Solar panels in Gosford

As an estimate, a 6.6kW system comes to about $3,990, a 10kW to about $5,490 and a 13.2kW to about $7,990, with the STC discount for postcode 2250 already taken off. Those are typical figures for a straightforward install, not a fixed price. The housing here spans a wide range of ages, so a switchboard upgrade is a common addition — and on the oldest houses the roof itself can be the deciding factor rather than a line item.

Gosford is in STC Zone 3, rating 1.382. In 2026 a 6.6kW system creates 45 certificates, worth roughly $1,710 off the price, and a 10kW system 69 certificates, roughly $2,622. It is a discount applied at the point of sale, not a grant you apply for afterwards — so if anyone describes it as a government payment you need to claim, be careful with the rest of what they tell you.

We will not, and we would be wary of anyone who says they will. Mounting an array means drilling the roof, and drilling bonded asbestos cement is exactly the activity that releases fibres from material that is otherwise sitting there harmlessly. Removal of more than ten square metres of non-friable asbestos requires a licensed removalist in NSW, and SafeWork NSW recommends using a licensed professional for any amount at all, precisely because disturbance is the whole risk. This is not a case of being cautious about a grey area. It is the one part of a solar quote where the right answer is to stop.

Three, and two of them are good. Replace the roof first, using a licensed removalist, and install afterwards — on a house with asbestos cement roofing the roof is usually old enough that this was coming anyway, and doing it before a twenty-five year system goes on top is the right order regardless. Put the array somewhere else on the property: a garage, shed or carport with a metal roof will often take a worthwhile system, and the power goes to the same meter. Or, if you have the land, a ground-mounted array, which is engineered differently from a roof install but avoids the roof question entirely. We will quote any of the three.

Age is the first clue — asbestos cement sheeting was widely used in Australian housing until it was phased out around the late 1980s, so a roof or eaves of that vintage is the question rather than the answer. Do not try to find out by cutting, sanding or drilling a sample, which is the one thing guaranteed to make it worse. A licensed asbestos assessor can confirm it properly, and if you are already planning work on the house it is worth knowing in any case. Worth remembering that eaves and wall sheeting matter too, not just the roof, because cable runs and switchboard work go through them.

That they have either not looked at the roof or have decided not to raise it, and neither is encouraging on a twenty-five year purchase. The useful test is simple: on a house of that age, ask what the roof sheeting is and what they intend to fix into. An installer who has assessed the property will have an answer ready. One who says they will be careful, or offers to work around it, is proposing to do the exact thing the rules exist to prevent — and the consequences land on the household, not on them.

The distribution network that owns the poles and wires in your street approves it — not your retailer — and we lodge the application for you. On a flexible export connection, a complying system up to 30kW is automatically approved to export up to 10kW per phase. On a fixed export connection, the approval is 3kW per system. If your home has no reliable internet, exports are limited to a static 1.5kW per system until a connection is available. Anything above 10kW per phase is assessed site by site.

If you are installing new solar or upgrading an existing system, yes. Your distribution network is phasing the NSW Emergency Backstop Mechanism in by postcode from 30 November 2026, with full implementation by 22 February 2027. It applies to new and upgrading systems up to 200kW, which must use equipment compliant with the CSIP-AUS standard, and the installer runs a short capability test at installation. Systems already on the roof are not affected.