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Find out what Australians were wanting in solar and battery systems when requesting quotes during February in SQ’s March auSSII report.

From capacity options of 3-5 kW, 5-10 kW, 10-15 kW, 15-20 kW, 20+ kW and “Fill Roof”; where selected, 78% of Australians using the SolarQuotes quoting service chose the 5 to 10kW range option in February, down a little on January and December. Again in February, close to 12% selected the “Fill Roof” option.

SolarQuotes’ founder Finn’s advice on system sizing has changed over the years – get his updated advice on how much solar power you’ll need.

While there were plenty of potential buyers wanting a system installation as soon as possible, eagerness for an immediate installation dropped again from 24% in January to 22% in February – the lowest proportion for some time. 32% indicated they were considering a purchase within the next 28 days and 45% within 3 months.

The desire for a top-shelf rooftop solar installation crept up in February with around 13% indicating they wanted a “top quality” (most expensive) system (January, 13%). 80% were after a good balance of cost and quality (81% in January) and 7% in a decent budget system.

General current price ranges for systems can be found on SQ’s solar panels cost page.

We’ve consistently seen significant interest in high-end solar gear, and with comparatively few players targeting this end of the market the news of LG exiting solar panel production last month was a bit of a shock. LG panels were widely regarded as among the best – and this was reflected in their pricing. While ditching PV module manufacturing, LG has committed to honouring all warranties.

Discover how much Australians are and were previously paying on average for systems with the SolarQuotes Australian Solar Price Index; which has some nifty tools for filtering on various aspects. Towards the end of this month, we’ll publish a special report on average system prices and costs per watt in February based on information generated by the tool.

Panel Level Optimisation (PLO) options include microinverters and optimisers; which provide benefits including panel level monitoring, enhanced system design flexibility and improved system performance under certain conditions.

Close to 19% of quote requests in February indicated interest in PLO devices, up a little on January’s 18%.

Finn strongly recommends optional advanced solar monitoring with a system purchase as it can help you extract maximum value from your investment. Last month, close to 37% of requests included this option, down from January’s 39% and back in line with December’s result.

Not much seems to change here. Interest in battery-ready system was around 5.5% in February and it usually sits within the 5% – 6% range.

But this low figure doesn’t accurately reflect interest in home batteries as you’ll see in the next graph.

As in December and in January, around 18% indicated interest in having a home battery installed concurrently with their solar panels.

Home energy storage remains a significant investment in 2022, with solar battery prices still out of reach of many – and many Australians are unsure whether a battery may be right for them. To get up to speed on batteries, check Finn’s “101” guides on understanding, buying and owning a home battery system.

6% of those interested in a battery installation were wanting it primarily backup purposes (same as January), 38% mainly for minimising mains grid electricity consumption (34% in January), and 57% for both purposes (60% in January).

Where quarterly electricity costs were provided, 46% said they were paying between $500 and $1,000 – this proportion has been pretty consistent over at least the last year.  A little under 11% were paying more than $1,000 a quarter.

This report is based on details submitted by thousands of Australians in February who received up to 3 quotes each from trusted, thoroughly pre-vetted installers in the SolarQuotes network.

The SolarQuotes service has been providing installers pursuing installation and customer service excellence with details of eager Australian buyers since 2009. If you’re an installer looking for more business, learn more about SQ’s solar sales leads.

Content from the auSSII can be reproduced on your web site or in other publications – but you will need to attribute SolarQuotes as the source.

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Michael caught the solar power bug after purchasing components to cobble together a small off-grid PV system in 2008. He's been reporting on Australian and international solar energy news ever since.

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