Once again the solar and storage industry is facing some uncomfortable questions about whether the rules we work with actually line up with each other.

Finn did an excellent job of explaining this issue a few weeks back¹ but strap in and we’ll get into the weeds of wiring rules and ask, why are they being ignored by installers, inspectors and regulators and who is going to bear the cost of getting this right? [Read more…]

Images of DIY winter coats for Fox batteries – shared on FB by Australian owners: Update: a commenter has told me the middle one was done for a joke and the overcoat was promptly removed.

Fox ESS batteries recently became the most popular battery in Australia thanks to their nice stackable design and a price that undercuts most of the competition. When asked, my personal verdict on Fox has been: I don’t have enough real-world data to vouch for their quality in harsh Australian conditions, and I’ve consistently recommended waiting for a couple of summers before committing.

Turns out it’s not the summers I should have been watching. [Read more…]

That Smart Energy 2026 Conference & Expo: Australia’s leading show that isn’t All Energy.

I’m filling in for our editor, Max, who has taken himself on holiday like someone who doesn’t understand the gravity of the Smart Energy Conference. Someone had to go. So I went to Sydney. Here’s what happened. [Read more…]

We’ve been running this website for 16 years. In that time, we’ve published tens of thousands of reviews and written plenty of posts about installers and manufacturers. Shock horror, some have been critical. [Read more…]

A rush to secure home battery systems ahead of the 1 May cutoff has left many customers dealing with delays that have pushed their installs past the deadline, raising questions about pricing and eligibility. If your system wasn’t fully commissioned by 30 April, you may now be working through what that means for your agreed price, your installation timeline, and any changes being proposed by your installer. [Read more…]

Apparently a recent raft of audits showed 98% of battery installations were defective. Does that mean the entire solar installation industry is incompetent? No, but the people writing the rules…?

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A Queensland homeowner got a solar-battery system under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) through ShineHub, expecting it could be expanded later. Just a couple of years into a 10 year contract, the homeowner says he was told to throw away his battery and inverter and start again if he wanted more capacity — even though the system still worked. [Read more…]

Australia’s federal battery rebate is changing from May 1, 2026 — and if you’re considering a home battery, you’ll want to understand what’s changed and what it means for you.

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Sometimes I write blog posts that are fact checks. But today’s is more a statement of fact.  And that fact is:

If your electricity consumption is anywhere close to normal, it’s a bad idea to blow your only chance to use the battery rebate on a tiny 5 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery, like the one promoted by Solar Battery Group’s letter mailout campaign.

[Read more…]

If you’ve got a high-voltage stackable battery system and the DC cables between the battery and inverter don’t have mechanical protection, you’re not compliant with Australian standards and your systems could be classed as unsafe – and shut down.

This column explains why, and what the standard requires.

[Read more…]