Solar panels in Shellharbour

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. Housing across 2529 ranges from older beachside homes to new estates, so the switchboard and the roof type are the usual variables, and coastal-grade mounting hardware is the right specification here rather than an upgrade.

Shellharbour 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. The discount shrinks each January until the scheme ends in 2030.

In practice, yes, and this is the uncomfortable answer people are looking for. There is no general right to sunlight for a solar system in New South Wales — a neighbour is not prevented from building something lawful because it puts your array in shadow. Planning controls do consider overshadowing of a neighbour's living areas and private open space when a development is assessed, but that is a different question from protecting a rooftop system, and a complying development may not be assessed against your roof at all. Anyone telling you your panels are legally protected is overstating it.

Three practical things, in order of usefulness. Design for it now: if the obvious risk is a two-storey build to your north, weighting the array away from that boundary costs a little generation today and saves a lot later. Watch for development notices in your street and make a submission if one affects you — overshadowing is a matter councils do consider, even if your panels are not the test. And talk to the neighbour early, because most people would rather move a roofline slightly than have a dispute. What we will not do is design your system on the assumption that nothing next door ever changes.

Different rules and, honestly, often a harder problem. Trees are managed by council controls that protect them; you generally cannot prune or remove a neighbour's tree because it shades your panels, and doing it without approval can be expensive. If a tree is the issue, the fixes are on your side of the fence: array placement, and electronics — optimisers or microinverters — so one shaded panel does not drag down a whole string. We will tell you what that costs and what it recovers before you commit.

It depends how the system is wired, which is the part you control. Panels in a plain string behave a little like a single circuit: heavy shade on one can pull down the output of others on that string. Optimisers or microinverters isolate each panel so the loss stays roughly proportional to the shade. They cost more, and on a completely clear roof they are not worth it — but on a block with a real shading risk they change the outcome. We recommend them where they earn their keep and say so where they do not.

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. Shading has no bearing on any of that; it affects what you generate, not what you are allowed to send.