Have you been thinking about making the switch to solar? Perhaps you’ve heard about friends who have cut their power bills by hundreds, or just want to invest in a more environmentally friendly energy generating system for your home.

The good news is that overall, solar costs have come down dramatically over the past few years. As the demand grows and the technology develops, suppliers are delivering more accessible and higher performing systems than ever before.

But like with anything, there is so much information out there that it can be hard to know where to begin. Here we answer some commonly asked questions about changing to solar energy.

How much does it cost and how much can I save?

The quick answer is that it varies. Just like a length of string and the quality of the components used plays a huge factor on cost. You cannot simply compare solar panel systems in Adelaide on size alone.

Here’s a rough guide. For single person homes with an energy usage below $200/quarter, you’re looking at a cost of between $2,500 for a basic 1.5kW system and up to $3,500 for a you-beauty top of the range 1.5kW system. If you’re a 3-4 person home with energy bills of between $500-$1000/quarter we recommend a 6kW system. A 6kW with basic entry level options start at around $4,000 all the way up to $8,000 for a 6kW state-of-the-art battery ready solar energy system. If you are home is consuming greater than $1,000/quarter of energy you may want to consider a 10kW or larger system, these start from $9,000 depending on the features and quality. Our commercial solutions for businesses, start at around $12,000 for a 10kW system, and go all the way up to around $120,000 for a high quality premium 100kW solar energy system.

So you can see that the size and the quality of the system, makes a big difference to the cost. It’s also worth mentioning that the price of your system will be impacted by a number of other factors, including government incentives, the costs of your chosen contractor, the type and size of your inverter and solar panels, the experience of the company installing, and many other system specific components.

As for how much you will save, you could do your own calculations based on the size of your system, where you live, your energy consumption and usage habits, and taking into account feed-in tariffs (what the retailer pays you for overflow energy that your system generates) available to you. To make your life easier, chat to a Solar Warehouse Australia team member and we would be more than happy to help engineer the right solution for your needs, work out your potential savings as well as inform you on what you can do to help use your energy smarter.

How do I choose a reputable retailer and accredited installer?

First and foremost, choose a Clean Energy Council Approved Solar Retailer. You can tell because they’ll have the logo displayed somewhere on their site. Anyone who has this has signed a Code of Conduct committing to ethical sales and marketing, using only high-quality components and a five-year operational guarantee for every system. Better yet, you’ll also know that their installers are all accredited by the Clean Energy Council. Solar Warehouse Australia is a proud Clean Energy Council Approved Solar Retailer.

Is solar safe for my family?

When you trust a Clean Energy Council Approved Solar Retailer, you can be confident that only qualified electricians who have undergone specific training will be working on your installation at your home. You can also double-check that your panels and inverters are safe by locating them on the Clean Energy Council’s approved lists. Remember, for any future upgrades, repairs or maintenance, it’s a wise idea to only rely on a Clean Energy Council Approved Solar Retailer.

You can also rest assured that Solar Warehouse Australia electricians are Advanced Certified SolarEdge Installers. SolarEdge is one of the most safest inverter solutions on the market. If ever damage was to occur to your system, be it rats chewing on the cabling, hail storm damage, or the kids kicking around the footy, SolarEdge’s range of unltra smart DC optimisers sense an issue and rapidly shutdown the voltage to your solar panels down to an extra safe voltage of 1V per panel.

If your thinking about going solar and would like to know more about the products that are available please feel free to fill in your details on our get a quote page, call us on (08) 7127 0752 or pop into our showroom at 678 North East Road, HOLDEN HILL SA 5088 during business hours and a member of our friendly team will be more than happy to help.