The giant Everything Electric show returns to Sydney Showground this weekend, Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September, six months later than planned.
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Australia Has Installed Half a Million Batteries. Who’s Checking They’re Safe?
Peter Hannam quoted me in RenewEconomy on Friday, saying I expect there are hundreds of thousands of solar and battery systems out there that aren’t optimally installed or configured, some of them carrying real potential for dangerous outcomes.
[Continue reading…]CEC Double Standard On Budget Brand Delistings
Neovolt have been threatened with de-listing because their CEC approval paperwork isn’t in order. I find this curious because when I’ve asked about similar approval paperwork in the past concerning Growatt products, they weren’t de-listed. And the CEC refused to answer our questions.
[Continue reading…]EVs Outsell Petrol: What It Means For Home Electrification
Electric cars have notched up their biggest Australian milestone yet. In August, they outsold petrol cars for the first time, taking almost a quarter of all new vehicle sales. For households, that also means more transport energy is shifting from the petrol bowser to the electricity meter.
[Continue reading…]Unreliable Backup Power: The Mistake Everyone Keeps Making
We’ve seen a big change in the solar industry recently. With batteries becoming standard, everyone is getting backup. The problem is that poor design and sales misunderstandings are leaving people, especially three-phase customers, with a total oxymoron: unreliable backup power.
[Continue reading…]Slow-Charging Your EV Wastes More Power Than You’d Think
Carefully trickle-charging your EV with surplus solar instead of buying electricity from the grid sounds like the perfect way to charge. But there’s an uncomfortable truth: slow charging can waste considerably more energy than charging at higher power with a home charger. Spoiler alert: that doesn’t mean you should stop charging from solar. Cheap electricity […]
[Continue reading…]The Question Nobody Asks Before Selling You A Battery
Last week I was in Officeworks waiting for some printing. Next to me, a woman was buying a laptop, and the Officeworks bloke helping her knew his stuff. Processors, RAM, screen brightness: all of it correct. Then he asked whether she’d considered a Mac, which opened a second long conversation about MacBooks, and by the […]
[Continue reading…]Data Centres Told BYO Power And Don’t Send Households The Bill
Australia’s data centre boom is going to need an extraordinary amount of electricity. Without the right rules, households and small businesses could end up sharing the bill.
[Continue reading…]Solar Backup: Super Series Vs Perfect Parallel Connections
Everyone buying solar wants lower bills, but adding expensive batteries should be more about a reliable supply than straight-up bean-counting. The solar industry has, for a long time, glossed over a pretty basic point in battery-backed systems, so strap in while we explain the difference between series and parallel-connected supplies, and why it matters.
[Continue reading…]How Many Chances Should You Give Your Solar Installer?
Most of us want to believe the best in people. If your solar installer says they’re waiting on stock, you’ll probably accept it. If they ask for a few more weeks, you’ll give them a few more weeks. But when does patience stop being reasonable? That’s the question NSW homeowner Mark Barnes eventually found himself […]
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