Solar panels in Shell Cove

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 2529 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. New houses are the easiest roofs we work on — modern switchboards, clean metal or tile, often three-phase — so quotes here tend to land close to the estimate. Coastal-grade mounting hardware is the right specification this near the water.

Shell Cove is in STC Zone 3, rating 1.382 — the same zone as Sydney. 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. Certificates are created when the system is installed and connected, so a system that goes on after handover claims them then, at that year's rate.

After, in most cases, and that is not us avoiding work. While the house is under construction it is the builder's site and the builder's insurance, the roof may not be finished, and there is no meter or connection for the system to work with. Just as importantly, anything a third party does to a new roof can become a conversation about who is responsible if a defect turns up later. Once you have keys, an occupation certificate and a meter, the install is a straightforward single day on a roof nobody else has a claim over.

Two cheap things that are expensive later. Ask for a conduit from the meter box or switchboard to the roof space and to the garage wall, so the cabling for a system and for a battery or EV charger has a clean route that does not need to be surface-mounted afterwards. And ask what is already committed on the plans — some contracts include a small system to meet the energy commitments the house was approved against, which changes what you should buy rather than whether you should. Neither request costs much while the walls are open.

Usually not for how people actually live, and that is a design choice rather than a fault. A system included in a build is generally sized to satisfy the energy requirements the house was approved against, not to cover a household with air-conditioning, a pool and possibly an EV. The good news is that it is a starting point rather than a dead end: depending on the inverter, you can add panels to it, add a second array alongside, or replace the inverter and keep the panels. Our Oran Park page works through those three options in detail.

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. Most new homes here are three-phase, so that allowance applies per phase.

Yes. We cover the whole 2529 postcode, including Dunmore, Balarang, as well as Shellharbour, Oak Flats and Flinders. The pricing, the process and the connection paperwork are the same right across it.