Solar Quotes Blog

Is The Powerwall 2 A Good Investment?

powerwall 2 and piggy bank

Update: read about the newly arrived Powerwall 3 in Australia Tesla has announced the impending arrival of the Powerwall 2 at a promised price point that, on the surface, looks very compelling: $10,150 fully installed1, or  23c per warranted kWh. It seems particularly impressive when you consider that in Sydney and Perth, time-of-use tariffs can go to 50c per kWh […]

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How many solar panels should you install with a Powerwall 2?

powerwall and solar mix up

The Tesla Powerwall 2 is going to be big.  Really big.  I mean that literally and not figuratively.  It’s going to be big as in 13.5 kilowatt-hours of storage big.  From the point of view of most Australian households that is huge. This large capacity presents households with two main problems:  It is more than […]

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Should you go off grid with a Powerwall 2?

    Note from Finn: Since this post was published Tesla have canned the DC Powerwall 2 in Australia. We will now only be able to get an AC Powerwall 2. A regular AC coupled battery is no good for off grid because it can’t talk to the solar inverter to balance energy demand and […]

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Cost Of Powerwall 2 Drops 9% Overnight

powerwall 2

Tesla appears to be unsure about how much to charge Australians for the Powerwall 2. Or maybe they are sure, but confused about how the Australian dollarydoo works. Perhaps they’ve been confusing it with the New Zealand doubloon or the Fijian guilder? I know I often do.

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Unwitting Warranties: A Ticking Time Bomb For The Battery Industry

dodgy battery sales guy

The other day a salesperson give me the rundown on a home battery system he had on display.  While it wasn’t cheap, it certainly appeared to be a very impressive piece of technology.  The salesperson clearly had a lot of confidence in it because, even though its written warranty was only for 10 years, he […]

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Solar Rebate Ending?

Have you heard the news?  The solar rebate is ending!  It’s all over the internet.  Or at least all over the parts of the internet that run ads from shonky solar companies.  According to them, if you don’t rush out right now to get rooftop solar installed before the first of January you’ll end up […]

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Powerwall 2 Full Spec Released: Low cost but ‘unlimited cycles’ warranty has limits.

powerwall 2 spec

[Update March 13: Tesla has cancelled sales of the DC Powerwall 2 in Australia and the first installations of the AC version of the Powerwall 2 will now apparently be done in April.] Yesterday, Tesla kindly sent me the Powerwall 2’s full data sheet and warranty. We already knew the headline specs: Storage: 13.5kWh Power: […]

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Energex Tries To Stop Tide Of Batteries With Bonkers Tariff 31 and 33 Rule

king energex on a throne

Energex is the state government owned network operator for all of Queensland.  They receive electricity from the high voltage transmission lines that Powerlink manages and distribute it to the state’s homes and businesses. They also kindly distribute it things that aren’t homes or business, including my cousin’s non-profit Fight Club Community Center1.

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Reposit Power Review: Does It Really Halve The Payback Time Of Your Battery?

Reposit pokie

Reposit is a Canberra based startup. They make software which optimizes the performance of a home battery system. The software is installed on a controller the size of a circuit breaker that sits in your switchboard.

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Congratulations! Your 10 Year Solar Panel Product Warranty Is Probably 25 Thanks To Australian Consumer Law

magician turning a 10 year warranty in to 25 year warranty

When people ask me about solar panel warranties, I tell them to look at the product warranty.  This is usually for 10 or 12 years. I tell them not to worry about the performance warranty, which is normally for 25 years or sometimes 30.  You see, while most manufacturers are happy to honor their product warranties, not […]

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