With climate change now a reality and electricity prices skyrocketing in Australia, more than ever before, people are now thinking about safety, energy resilience (blackout protection) and reducing their reliance on the grid.
Future-proofing your tech can protect you from forking out for new equipment when your energy needs change – and let’s face it, with electric vehicles starting to become mainstream, everyone’s energy needs will change in the next 5 to 10 years.
Getting future proofed inverter technology ensures you get the most out of your system, helping you maximise your savings and recoup your investment faster. Not to mention keeping your home safe and operational, even when the grid goes down.
- are you thinking you’ll buy an electric vehicle now or in the not-too-distant future?
- do you want the ability to easily expand your system?
- do you want to be able to easily and cost-effectively add a battery?
- do you want to migrate away from gas for environmental or cost reasons?
- are you after full visibility of your system, so you know right away if something isn’t working exactly as it should?
- how important is it to you to have blackout protection when the grid becomes unstable?
So Which Are the Best Components to Future-Proof
The Engine of Your Solar System
- Solar panels do a great job producing clean electricity from the sun. But the engine of your system is your inverter. It’s the one component above all others that you don’t want to skimp on, as it’s the most prone to failure and it’s the most expensive to replace (given your panels are largely subsidised by the Federal government rebate). Your inverter converts the electricity generated by your panels from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), which powers your home and can be sold back to the grid.
- You can future-proof your system now by choosing a hybrid inverter such as SolarEdge’s Home Hub inverter, which manages both solar and battery storage, as well as smart home automation and electric vehicle charging.
- SolarEdge optimised inverter technology allows you to substantially oversize your system (by as much as 300%) when you add a battery – without having to upgrade your inverter. eg. you can install up to 21.9kW of panels with a 5kW inverter. This is unique to SolarEdge.
- If you have any shading issues, SolarEdge allows for individual panel performance (ie. other panels won’t be affected if one is impacted by shade, bird poo, leaf litter or one panel is underperforming). They each work to their individual optimum. It also gives you individual panel monitoring via an app on your smart phone or computer, so you can see how each of your panels is performing at any given time – and pick up on a fault, if ever one occurs.
- You also get a very reliable and efficient inverter and a longer warranty than any other inverter technology (12 years, compared to the average of 10 years).
- Plus you can install more panels on a limited roof space, by installing closer to obstructions/shade.
A transcript of the video can be read here
The Smarts Behind Your Solar System
Your inverter isn’t just the engine of your system; it’s the brains too, as it lets you control how and when your solar energy is used.
For example, when your system is producing excess electricity, you can either sell it to the grid or with a smart inverter, you can:
- automatically charge your batteries so you can power your home when the sun goes down.
- automatically charge your EV just from solar (or from solar and the grid)
- divert any surplus energy to pre-heat your heat pump or electric hot water system (this means your hot water system no longer needs to run from the grid most of the time).
- direct high-energy consuming appliances such as air-con, pool pumps and heat pumps to run when there’s surplus energy.
The result? Greater system utilisation, lower electricity bills and a faster payback on the cost of your system.
Australia’s Unstable Grid
Australia’s electrical grid is becoming increasingly unstable. As a result, electricity network operators want the ability to control your system’s power output if the grid gets overwhelmed. eg. if there’s too much solar being produced in the middle of the day.
This can be a problem if you have a standard AC-coupled grid-connected solar and/or battery system. The operator can turn down or even switch off your system if there’s too much solar being fed into the grid. With most batteries being connected to the grid, this means they won’t charge when this occurs.
So many reasons to choose optimised over conventional inverter technology.
The Energy Experts take the hard work out of installing solar and batteries and can help you future-proof. Get in touch today to learn more.
