Quality solar, locally installed
Residential solar, sized for your roof and the way you use power, installed across the Shoalhaven, Illawarra and Southern Highlands.
The big picture
Solar panels make power during the day, but that's only part of the story. A modern solar setup behaves differently depending on the time of day, and how well it's been designed shapes how much you actually save.
The difference between a system that just generates power and one that genuinely lowers your bills comes down to sizing, inverter choice, and whether a battery makes sense for your household.
Soaking up the sun and making power.
Turning that power into what your home runs on.
Running on power straight off the roof.
Storing what you don't use right now.
Taking any power you're not using.
You already know the panels turn sunlight into power. What you're really choosing is their quality, and it shows up two ways: how much power you get from the roof space you've got and how long they keep making it. A good panel should still be producing around 85% of its original output after 25 years.
The inverter is the part doing the real work. Your panels make DC power and your home runs on AC, so the inverter converts it and decides where every bit of power goes: to the house, the battery or the grid. It's also where a real choice sits: one central unit or smaller units on each panel. Each suits different roofs, and your estimator will steer you to the right one.
What you're really choosing
A solar setup is made of several parts, but two of them decide how well it performs and how long it lasts: the panels on your roof and the inverter that does the work behind them. These two are where the quality you pay for actually shows up.
What separates a system that quietly performs for years from one that fades early comes down to the quality of these two parts and how well they're matched to your home. Here's what each one does and why the choice matters.
What we install
We're not tied to any manufacturer or sponsored by anyone. We fit Winaico panels with Fronius or Enphase inverters for one reason: they're what we'd choose for ourselves. Not the cheapest going, but what we trust to still be working properly in 20 years.
Our panel of choice. Taiwanese-made, they consistently top independent Australian tests and carry a 25-year product warranty where most brands sit at 12 to 15 years. We choose them because they're built to last.
Learn more about Winaico
The inverter we fit on most homes. Austrian-engineered, reliable and well supported right across Australia, which matters when you want parts or service years down the track. It's the one we trust to keep running.
Learn more about Fronius
The other inverter we use. A microinverter sits on each panel and works independently, so shade or a mix of roof angles won't drag the whole system down. It's what we reach for when a roof gets tricky.
Learn more about EnphaseDifferent situations call for different gear. Your estimator will recommend the pairing that suits your home and budget.
Things to consider
Bigger isn't automatically better. Over-sizing a system means paying for panels whose output you'll export to the grid for 3 to 5c per kWh, which isn't a great return. Under-sizing means missing out on the savings you could have captured. The sweet spot is different for every home.
These are the things that actually shape what size system suits you. Worth having a think about these before your site visit.
The single most important number is your annual electricity usage in kWh. Your power bill will show it (usually at the back). It tells us what you need to offset, which tells us what size system to build toward.
If most of your usage is daytime (work-from-home, electric hot water running during the day), solar covers more of your needs directly. If it's evening-heavy (dinners, AC at night, family home from school), you'll export more and benefit more from adding a battery.
North-facing roof with good sun exposure is ideal. East and west still work well (split systems between the two often beat a single north array). South-facing generally isn't worth it. Your roof dictates the ceiling of what's possible.
If you're thinking about an EV, a battery, a pool, or going all-electric, size the solar for where you'll be in a few years, not today. Oversizing for future-you is usually a better economic call than undersizing for today-you.
When your panels are generating, your house pulls power from them instead of the grid. That's the real saving. Every kWh you self-consume is a kWh you don't pay for.
Years ago, you'd get paid 17c per kWh for solar exported to the grid. These days, most NSW retailers pay between 3c and 5c. So while exports still help, they're not the lever they used to be. The math has shifted toward using your own power, not selling it.
For most well-sized residential setups in our region, that's the typical window. Larger usage and good system sizing tend to push toward the shorter end. This isn't a guarantee, just a range we see consistently.
With exports now worth so little, storing your excess solar for the evening is often a better return than selling it back. A battery isn't a must for everyone: if you use most of your power during the day, straight solar still stacks up. But it's worth knowing where it fits, which we cover on the home batteries page.
How the numbers work
There's no single dollar figure we can give you upfront. The savings depend on your usage patterns, your system size, your roof and what's happening with feed-in tariffs at the time.
What we can tell you is the general shape of it. Most well-sized residential systems in our region pay themselves back somewhere between four and seven years, but that's not a guarantee. Every household is different. Your estimator will model the actual numbers against your bills at the site visit.
We'll work with the roof you've got
Galvanised steel, heritage areas, complex pitches, multiple orientations. These are the roofs that need real experience to get right, and they're what we've built ours on. Where some installers quote conservatively or pass on the work, we take it on.
We've been doing this for nearly three decades. We've installed in heritage zones across Berrima, East Bowral and Berry. We work with galvanised steel using the right process so corrosion isn't an issue, and we'll design splits across multiple orientations without losing system performance.
If your roof is harder than usual, that's the conversation to have at the site visit. Most of the time, we can make it work.
We use the right process for galvanised installs to avoid corrosion. Many installers won't quote on galvo at all. We will.
Heritage areas have rules around panel visibility and aesthetics. We've handled installs in Berrima, East Bowral, Berry, and similar zones, with all-black panels and low-profile mounting where the rules require it.
Roofs with multiple angles, partial shading, or split orientations need careful design to perform well. Microinverter setups (like Enphase) handle this beautifully, and our estimators will design around what your roof gives us.
Rebates and incentives
Rooftop solar qualifies for a federal scheme called Small-scale Technology Certificates, or STCs. It's how the government encourages households to go solar: your system earns a set number of certificates based on its size, your location and when it's installed, and they're worth a genuine discount on your system.
You don't claim anything yourself. You assign the certificates to us, we handle the paperwork, and their value comes straight off your quote. No forms, no waiting, no chasing the regulator after the fact.
You might have heard the rebate is ending. For solar panels it's winding down, not being scrapped: the number of certificates a system earns steps down once a year, each January, and the scheme finishes at the end of 2030. So the discount shrinks gradually rather than overnight. The exact amount also moves with the certificate market, so your estimator confirms it at your site visit.
The process
From first contact to your system generating, here's what to expect.
Reach out by phone or through the website and let us know you'd like a quote. We'll call you back for a quick chat and lock in a time for an estimator to visit. No pressure and no obligation.
An estimator comes out to look over the site and answer any questions you have. It's also their chance to catch anything a satellite image won't, like access, shading or where the inverter needs to go. Having a recent power bill handy helps them size the system around how you actually use power.
You receive an itemised quote covering panels, inverter, installation, any required electrical work, and your STC discount applied upfront. The price you see is the price you pay, with no surprises on install day.
Our team installs the system in usually one day. Panels on the roof, inverter mounted, wiring back to your switchboard. We leave the roof cleaner than we found it.
We commission the system, show you how the monitoring app works, and make sure it's performing the way it should. After that we're still local and still a phone call away, for the life of the system.
Common questions
Solar is a significant investment with a decent amount of jargon, so there's always a pile of questions. Here are the ones we hear most.
Anything on your mind that isn't covered here, just ask. Every roof and every household is different.
We're happy to talk it through, no pressure and no commitment.
Solar pricing varies a lot based on system size, your roof, and what's involved with your switchboard. That's why we do a site visit before quoting. The number you get is the number you pay, no surprises on install day.
A standard install is usually one day on site, but bigger or more complex jobs can stretch to two or three. As long as our team can access your roof and wherever the inverter is going (usually a garage or external wall), the rest is straightforward. Power will be off for part of the day while we connect to your switchboard, but the team works to keep that window short.
Sometimes. Older switchboards often need work to accept a solar install safely. If yours needs upgrading, we'll include it in the quote. Our qualified electricians handle it in-house.
Panel warranties vary but Winaico panels come with 25 years product plus 30 years performance. Inverters are up to 10 years for Fronius, and a 25-year limited warranty for Enphase microinverters. On top of that, we back our installation work directly. If something goes wrong with the install itself, we sort it.
Generally no on insurance, but roof warranties depend on your specific arrangement with whoever did your roof. We'll work to whatever guidelines or rules apply, including with galvanised steel roofs where we use the right process to avoid corrosion. Worth checking your specific roof warranty terms with your roofer if it's a concern.
Yes, and you'll want to. Both Fronius and Enphase have monitoring apps that show your generation, consumption, and exports in real time. Our installers will set this up for you on install day, walk you through the app, and make sure you've got everything you need to keep an eye on your system.
Yes, regular cleaning and electrical safety checks help keep your system running at peak efficiency. We can handle this for you as part of our solar maintenance services. See our solar maintenance page for what's involved.
Usually yes, but it depends on your inverter size and switchboard. We often size the inverter slightly larger than the initial panel array for exactly this reason, so there's headroom to expand. Worth mentioning at the quote stage if you think you'll expand.
On its own, no. For safety reasons, grid-tied solar shuts down during a blackout unless you've also got a battery with backup capability. If blackout backup is important to you, a battery with backup circuit support is what you'd want, which we cover on the home batteries page.
What our customers say
We've been serving the Shoalhaven, Illawarra and Southern Highlands for over 28 years. Here's what our customers have to say.
Let's talk
Whether you've been thinking about solar for years or just started looking, we're ready to design something that actually suits your home and your usage. Tell us what you're working with and we'll take it from there.
