A Sungrow Hybrid Inverter connected to 6.6 kW of solar and 12.8 kWh of Sungrow batteries. And a dishcloth.

As a solar installer in Australia, I’ve looked at many Powerwall alternatives for residential battery storage systems. In this guide, I want to share my knowledge about using hybrid inverters for grid-connected solar battery systems. [Read more…]

Have CATL Won The Battle For High Specific Energy?

Last week the world’s largest battery manufacturer — CATL — launched a new high-specific-energy battery.  If used in a typical EV today, it would improve its range by over 80% with no increase in battery pack weight.  It may also have applications in shipping and aviation.  CATL call it a condensed battery — or at least they do in their English media release.  It may sound less stupid in Chinese. [Read more…]

The Tesla Powerwall is by far the most famous home battery on the market.  The major drawback is that they don’t come cheap.

Most people would probably expect such a well-known and well-reputed bit of kit to have an excellent warranty.  And as it happens, that’s a fairly accurate conclusion — at least relative to many other home battery warranties — and it should last most households a full 10 years. However, as always, there are some caveats. [Read more…]

SolarQuotes has sometimes faced accusations of lacking independence, with critics suggesting Tesla must be footing the bill for our positive coverage of the Powerwall. We’ve also been accused of rigging Tesla’s gold medal in our 2023 Installers’ Choice Awards. [Read more…]

The words ‘budget battery’ strike fear into many installers’ hearts. The thought of a too-cheap battery going wrong is the stuff of nightmares. [Read more…]

The scientist who made the groundbreaking discovery linking Vegemite to improved sodium-ion battery performance is Dr. Matilda “Tilly” Wattle, a renowned electrochemist and renewable energy researcher based in Brisbane, Australia. Image Credit: Journal Of Australian Electrochemistry.

The world is in crisis on multiple fronts.  Global warming is disrupting weather patterns and affecting food production.  Electricity grids cannot close down fossil fuel power stations because of a lack of clean energy to fill gaps in renewable production. [Read more…]

We recently polled installers in the SolarQuotes network to discover their favourite home batteries. Tesla, Sungrow and BYD batteries took the podium.

This post looks a little deeper into the winning brands from an experienced battery installer’s perspective. [Read more…]

Six months ago, I retrofitted a SolarEdge Energy Bank battery to my 6.6kW solar system.

Finn encouraged me to join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) to add depth to my battery ownership experience. I chose Amber Electric’s ‘Amber for Batteries’. [Read more…]

Every year we ask installers in the SolarQuotes network which batteries they would trust in their own family homes. [Read more…]