Simply Energy’s virtual power plant in Adelaide, South Australia is offering some of the most generous terms to customers to participate in their trial. The VPP offers customers up to […]
Category: Solar System Products
Solar Choice blog articles and reviews about components for solar power systems, including solar inverters, solar cells, solar modules, and solar batteries.
Townesville Gigafactory Proposed to Cost $3 billion
A battery “gigafactory” proposed for the north Queensland city of Townsville is expected to cost around $3 billion to build, according to its developers Magnis Energy Technologies, and will […]
Home storage to be taken over by EV’s?
Electric vehicles will become a key asset for the Australia’s energy market operator to manage the grid, and could even make home batteries redundant in the long-term, an industry insider […]
Off grid power systems: can you go off the grid with a 10kW solar system plus battery storage?
We previously wrote an article about the feasibility of an Australian home going off-grid with a 3kW solar system – quite a small system size for such an ambitious endeavour. […]
Spectacular solar success in Europe
A new report out of Europe has confirmed that solar PV is by far the cheapest form of bulk energy in many parts of the world, even with the addition […]
Battery pricing, incentives & virtual power plants
Victoria’s home battery storage incentive came into effect from 1 July this year; South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory have also introduced incentive programs that […]
Is home solar battery storage worth it? (updated 2019)
This article has since been updated for 2019. Click here to see the updated version. Since 2015 Australians have been talking about home battery storage being on the cusp of […]
ABB to exit solar inverter business
ABB have announced yesterday (9th July) that they have signed an agreement to sell their Solar Inverter business to FIMER S.p.A. for an undisclosed amount. ABB’s solar inverter business has […]
Hybrid & ‘battery-ready’ solar systems: What’s the go?
As more and more Australian households investigate (and install) solar battery storage, the more we get questions about battery-ready or hybrid solar & battery storage systems. What is a hybrid/battery-ready […]
How do lithium batteries work? [Animated Infogaphic]
Lithium has become the chemistry type of choice for grid-connect home solar battery storage in Australia (although lead acid still rules the off-grid space – for now). There are actually […]
Inverter maker SolarEdge adds “smart panels” to rooftop offering
Israel-based inverter maker SolarEdge has branched into the other key ingredient to rooftop solar systems – the panels – with the launch of its own PV offering on the Australian […]
A Virtual Power Plant case study: Vermont USA
As Solar Choice is currently undertaking the early stage preparations and structuring for a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) that can be made available for household, commercial and government premises across […]
Backup power with home solar battery storage: What are your options?
Home battery storage is becoming increasingly popular in Australia, and one of the most in-demand features is backup power, which provides electricity to a home even when the grid is […]
9 things you should know if you’re considering home battery-storage
For several years now, home solar battery storage has been a hot topic in Australia, and 2019 looks set to be the best year yet for batteries. If you’re actively […]
Redflow lands potentially massive battery supply deal with Soul Energy
Energy storage company Redflow has inked a deal with New Zealand-based infrastructure outfit Soul Energy, that could yield order for hundreds of its zin bromine flow batteries. The ASX Redflow […]
Time of use vs flat rate electricity tariffs with solar & batteries
If you’re connected to the grid and own your home, you pay for electricity. In most places, in Australia, there are basically two types of tariffs: Flat rate tariffs (aka ‘peak […]
The real obstacle to integrating storage into the grid
When it comes to integrating new energy storage technologies with the grid, what’s standing in the way? According to Robert Morgan, CEO of Energy Storage at GE Renewable Energy, the […]
Australian-designed ‘Solpod’ creating a buzz in the Commercial solar market
An Australian solar start-up company is looking to shake up the commercial solar market in Australia with its pre-fabricated rooftop solar systems. Melbourne based Solpod has developed a way to […]
Australia tipped to add 70,000 home batteries in 2019, lead global demand
Australia has been tipped to become the biggest home battery market in the world in 2019, with solar households forecast to install tens of thousands of energy storage systems. In […]
What happens to old Solar Panels?
Solar Panels have a warrantied lifetime of 25 years. That means for the vast majority of Solar Systems installed since the solar boom began in 2009 in Australia and sitting […]
A list of Australian battery support schemes (existing & proposed) as of Nov 2018
If you care about battery storage and distributed energy in Australia, you’re probably aware that a number of battery incentive programs are now available through various state & territory governments […]
Sonnen begins battery storage production at old Holden car factory in Adelaide
The first Australian made batteries for German manufacturer sonnen Group are set to roll off the assembly line, with the opening of the new factory in the old Holden car […]
Tesla unveils its Gateway upgrade for Powerwall 2 battery
Tesla has chosen Australia – with its world-leading battery storage market – for the global unveiling of its upgraded home energy management system – the latest version of the Backup […]
Different Types of Solar Panels – Which is best?
At Solar Choice we very commonly get asked about the different types of solar panels and what we recommend. This article attempts to explain the science behind the common panel […]
Australia to reach a “Solar Peak”, bring on battery storage!
As Australian rooftop solar continues to break records there’s claims of Australia being the first country to reach a “Solar Peak“, according to EnergyAustralia director Mark Collette. Australia has already installed 1.09GW […]
Innovative Clean Energy Solutions Are Being Utilised in the Trucking Sector
The emergence of high quality thin film solar is enabling new uses of solar beyond traditional rooftop solar and solar farms. […]
SwitchDin paves the way for virtual power plants & microgrids
SwitchDin is a Newcastle-based energy technology startup aiming to crack open the enormous potential of distributed energy resources (like small-scale solar and battery storage) in Australia’s energy future. The company […]
Battery Storage Price Index – August 2018
Last month we posted an article informing our readers that due to stabilisation of battery and solar pricing in recent times, we will now be publishing quarterly indexes as opposed […]
Wintertime solar power: What to expect (Solartopia #14)
The winter solstice (21 June) has come and gone. With the shortest day of the year now behind us, it’s all up from here, but we’ve still got a while […]
Solar panel reliability testing: 2018 results from DNV GL
DNV GL have published the 2018 results of their solar panel reliability testing for this year, with the 2018 PV Module Reliability Scorecard published in late May this year. The […]
Reposit First energy monitoring system reviewed
Since February of this year I’ve had Reposit Power’s Reposit First monitoring system installed at my Newcastle home. The goal has always been to write a review of how the […]
