Solar Rooftops

Australians have taken to Solar in a really big way. This is despite the standard Feed-in-tariff reducing substantially over the past few years to now be just over 3c per kWh for excess generation fed back into the grid. The case for Solar still stacks up if you have electrical appliances and loads which consume electricity during daylight hours.

Specific loads such as Hot Water Heating, Electric Heating or Cooling, Pool pumps, EV charging as well as other daylight operational domestic loads, can all draw from the Solar Rooftop generation (offsetting what would otherwise be expensive grid supplied power.

With the advent of Household Electrification, the role of a Solar Rooftop is arguably increased. Greater consumption of Solar generation and grid power will be expected as existing households migrate their legacy Gas Cookers, Gas Hot Water Services and Gas Central Heaters to higher efficiency Electric equivalents.

New housing stock will be fitted with electric stove, hot water heating and space heating and cooling appliances with gas being left disconnected in the street.

You are encouraged to consider the future cost implications of remaining connected to the legacy Gas network in lieu of installing electrical appliances which are often operate more efficiently.

Household Electrification

Under Electrification, Household heating, cooling, hot water heating and cooking will be transformed from legacy Gas or Electric powered to higher performance electrical powered. In terms of heating and cooling including hot water heating, new high-efficiency appliances will be pressed into service by the house-owner.

In new houses, the electrical cabling requirement for a legacy Gas stove with an electric oven, is substantially less than for a new electrical induction stove. Moreover, the electrical lead-in capacity requirement for an Electrified House is substantially more than for a House with Gas appliances only. This requirement is magnified further when EV charging is thrown into the mix.

Going forward, three-phase service lead-in cables will become the norm as Electrification takes off. Most new houses have underground service lead-ins and three-phase cabling forces an increased requirement to the diameter of the lead-in pipe in order to accommodate the extra cabling associated with three-phase delivery.

Serious consideration is recommended to encourage the necessary Service Lead-in upgrade be undertaken in new houses so they will become "Electrification Ready" (as well as being able to accommodate three-phase EV charging at home). Moreover this upgrade work is best done as part of an overall house build or as part of planed major renovation works.