About Ronald BrakelsJoining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.
Image: GloBird
I’ve looked into the pros and cons of a range of Virtual Power Plants, and so far, I haven’t been impressed. But GloBird Energy’s Zerohero VPP stands out as the best of a bad bunch. Rather than providing inadequately meagre payments — so long as you have a suitable battery and electricity consumption patterns — its payments have the potential to be adequately meagre.
On December 27th, 2024, official notice was given that Perth-based solar installation company Sungain Solar had entered liquidation. That’s a fancy way of saying they’d gone bust. A number of their customers have been left in the lurch because they paid deposits for solar systems and now don’t know if they’ll get any of their money back.
We’re well into the first month of 2025, but before getting carried away by the fact we’re now obviously living in the future, I thought it would be a good idea to look back at which solar panels tested well last year, according to the Kiwa PVEL 2024 PV Module Reliability Scorecard.
Have you got a 7 year itch for free electricity? ACT company Reposit is offering a “Reposit No Bill” deal where they’ll sell you a solar system and a home battery with a smart controller and guarantee you’ll receive no electricity bills for 7 years.
Generally, home batteries can charge from the grid – but not always. Discover those that will, those that won’t and batteries we’re not sure about. [Read more…]
How much deposit can solar installers request – and does compulsory insurance apply? Find out in our state-by-state (and territory) guide. [Read more…]
Tired of filling your tank? Go electric!
Last weekend I drove to Naracoorte to check out some holes in the ground. While this may not sound exciting, what made it special was driving there in a brand new “refreshed” Tesla Model 3.
In almost every way but one, the car was great. Perhaps even amazing. However, tragically, I’m unable to give it the coveted title of totes amazeballs. This is due to one annoying penny-pinching design choice I will heartily complain about later. I’ll hold off for now because there are far too many miserable bastards on the internet and I’d much rather go straight to telling you how cool it was using it to tool around South Australia. [Read more…]
Basking in sunlight from dawn to dusk, Western Australia is a great place for solar panels. But not everyone can install solar, which got me thinking. Is WA a great place for batteries without solar panels? [Read more…]
Many clued-up Australians dream of their electric car not only taking them places but powering their home and even the grid.
Keep reading, and you’ll discover how Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G) could outdo Australia’s entire coal fleet in terms of power delivered (kW) but not energy (kWh) and what that means for our future energy mix.
This article is all about the Jinko Suntank Battery’s technical specs. Two months ago, I wrote about its terrible warranty and decided no one in their right mind should buy it. But — to their credit — Jinko replaced the original warranty with a much better one shortly after my post was published. [Read more…]
Finn Peacock (RSS) (300)
Ronald Brakels (RSS) (492)
Michael Bloch (RSS) (3122)
Staff Writer (RSS) (261)
Richard Chirgwin (RSS) (159)
Anthony Bennett (RSS) (158)
Kim Wainwright (RSS) (78)
Pat Southwell (RSS) (15)
Neerav Bhatt (RSS) (7)
Max Opray (RSS) (5)
Before You Go..Download the first chapter of The Good Solar Guide, authored by SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock, FREE! We respect your privacy and you can opt out from the newsletter at any time. |
RSS - Posts
Currently Raging Debates: