In Australia, when our abundant sun shines, solar panels capture its energy and transform it into DC (direct current) electricity. This DC power is then converted by the solar inverter into AC (alternating current) electricity, suitable for use within your home. As a result, your household appliances, be it your fridge, dishwasher, or pool pump, can utilise this solar power, reducing the need to draw from the national electricity grid.

Any surplus electricity that your solar panels produce, which isn't consumed by your appliances, can either be fed back into the grid or stored in a solar battery. For the electricity that you contribute back to the grid, many Electricity Retailers offer a feed-in tariff as a reward.

To keep track of solar generation, consumption, and export, a smart meter is typically installed. This device captures the necessary data for your electricity billing.

For maximum efficiency, it's ideal for solar systems in Australia to be positioned facing north. However, other orientations can still be effective. It's also crucial to ensure that they have unobstructed access to sunlight, avoiding potential shading from trees, power lines, or nearby structures.

The short answer is ABSOLUTELY YES!

The slightly longer answer is… a typical solar system can range from $6,000 up to $12,000 depending on the number of panels used, size of the system, and which products are used.

Given solar generally reduces electricity bills by close to 80%, most solar systems are paid off within a 3 - 5 year period, at which point the savings go on for the next 25+ years.

Not to mention the increased value a solar system can add to your home!

There is a financial incentive available when you buy solar. The government calls it the ‘STC scheme’, but most people know it as the ‘Solar Rebate’.

The rebate depends on:

• How many solar panels you’re buying

• Where you live

• The year of installation

This incentive is set to end on 31st December 2030, and every year the government will reduce the rebates given. So, the earlier you claim the STCs, the more you can save off your solar systems.

Generally speaking, solar panels maintain efficient operations for about 25-30 years. That said, your system will continue to harness the sun’s energy after 30 years, although less efficiently.

The caveat here is of course not to cut corners and by the cheaper low quality systems as you’ll likely find things don’t last anywhere near as long.

The good news, at Sunlife Solar, we only provide top quality products all coming with 25-year warranties for your peace of mind.

Most residential systems can range from 17 up to 34 solar panels.

You’ll need to start by asking yourself these questions:

• What are your recent average electricity bills to see how much power you need to generate?

• How big is your roof, and are there parts of the roof in the shade?

• How many hours of sunlight do you get in your area and does your roof capture all of this?

• How large are the solar panels you’re getting, and what’s their efficiency?

The best thing to do is arrange a free in-home quote with one of our solar specialists and they’ll help you understand exactly what’s right for you.

If your solar panel system is tied to the grid, it might stop working during a blackout. However, if you have a backup battery or are running strictly off-grid, your power will continue uninterrupted.

It really depends on which products you have installed in your home.

At Sunlife Solar, we only use high quality products which all come with a 25-year panel warranty and 10-year inverter warranty.

We also provide a 10-year workmanship warranty for the installs themselves.

Most solar systems will allow you to monitor your usage online or through an app, it’s important to remember that sometimes this feature can come with an additional cost though.

We do recommend considering this so you get alerted if your system stops working or has an efficiency problem with the panels or inverters.

It also gives you an understanding if your power usage has increased or decreased before any concerns over if your solar system is working properly!

Most residential solar systems can be installed within 1-day. In some cases for larger systems this can extend to 2-days, but rarely is this the case.

Larger commercial installations can take longer, it simply comes down to the size and complexity of each job.

Like most things in life you pay for what you get, think of it like buying a Kia vs a BMW.

There’s a lot of solar systems to choose from, but to keep it simple, we suggest you think of it as low, medium and high tier systems.

The low tier systems are generally much cheaper, but often don’t work as well, and are far more likely to break.

Mid range systems will usually give you 80 - 90% of the performance of a high tier system without the hefty price tag, whilst still getting great reliability.

And some people simply want the best of the best regardless of the cost, so they will opt for the high tier systems.

At Sunlife we recommend most clients go for the mid tier systems to get the majority of the benefits without the hefty price tags.