Solar panels in Parklea

As an estimate, a 6.6kW system starts from $7,410, a 10kW system starts from $10,300 and a 13.2kW system starts from $11,250 (with battery prices starting from $4,290), with the STC discount for postcode 2768 already taken off (incl. GST for metro areas; regional areas subject to freight and travel costs). Those are starting estimates for a straightforward install, not a fixed price. Houses here are newer, so the extra that turns up most often is not electrical — it is the cable run, when the only sensible spot for the inverter is a long way from the switchboard.

Parklea 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. The discount shrinks each January until the scheme ends in 2030, and the exact amount depends on the certificate market on your installation date.

On a wall, close enough to the switchboard to keep the cable run sensible, out of direct afternoon sun, and somewhere it can be reached for service and isolation. In practice on these houses that means the garage wall or the shaded side of the house. It matters more than people expect: an inverter is electronics, and electronics in full western sun on a Sydney afternoon run hot, which shortens their life and can throttle output on exactly the days you want it. If the only available wall bakes, we will say so and price a solution rather than mounting it there and hoping.

A little. Most make a faint hum or fan noise while they are working, which is inaudible from inside the house but noticeable if you are standing next to it on a quiet afternoon. It is a real consideration on a narrow block where the neighbour's bedroom window may be a few metres from the wall you were planning to use. We would rather move it at the quote stage than have that conversation with you after install.

Not just anywhere, and the rules are stricter than for an inverter. Home batteries have installation requirements about where they may be mounted in relation to living spaces and exit paths, with clearances and sometimes fire-rated separation, and the specifics depend on the battery. The practical outcome on most houses here is a garage wall or an external wall, not a hallway or under a bedroom window. This is one of the reasons it pays to decide about a battery when the solar goes in rather than later — the cable routes and the space can be planned once.

Usually, and it is often the best spot: shaded, close to the switchboard on most of these floorplans, out of the weather, and easy to get to. The things to check are ventilation and clearance around the equipment, whether the wall is a suitable construction to mount on, and that the space is not going to be boxed in by shelving later. We mark it up at the assessment so everyone knows what the garage wall is committed to.

The distribution network that owns the poles and wires in your street approves it — not your retailer — and we lodge the application for you. That network also decides how much your system may export: on a flexible export connection, eligible customers can send up to 10kW per phase back to the grid most of the time, while a fixed export limit caps exports at 1.5kW. Where the equipment is mounted has no bearing on any of that.