What belongs on this FAQ hub? Direct answers to the questions this guide is built around, with the point in the first sentence and the context after. It is a due-diligence sheet you can keep open while you read quotes. It is not a ranking of installers, a live rebate table, or a place to book a site visit.
If you only remember five checks, remember these: understand the energy path, name the architecture, decide whether storage is solving a real problem, separate incentive rails, and verify people and products on official sites — Clean Energy Regulator, energy.gov.au, Clean Energy Council, Solar Accreditation Australia, AEMO for market context, and your state program.
Questions to ask an installer
Ask these out loud and get the answers into the written quote.
Who is the accredited installer, as a person? Accreditation for SRES access sits with Solar Accreditation Australia and attaches to the individual. Ask for the number and check it on the SAA status page. energy.gov.au is explicit that you should do this before you rely on a company name.
Who is the licensed electrician for the state? Licensing is separate from SAA accreditation. Both matter.
Will the accredited installer be on site for set-up, a mid-job check, and commissioning? That is the government’s installation-day expectation, not a nice-to-have.
What are the exact panel, inverter, and battery models? Write them down. Search current approved-product lists used for certificates. A brochure family name is not a model number.
What export limit is being applied for, with which DNSP? Export is a network decision. If the quote assumes unlimited export, it is unfinished.
How is metering being changed, and which retailer processes need to happen? Feed-in does not start because a panel is on the roof.
Which incentive rails are in the price, labelled separately? STCs, any state program, and any “estimated feed-in” should not be one lump. You will verify each rail yourself.
What warranties apply to products, installation labour, and roof penetrations? Ask who you call in year four.
What is out of scope? Switchboard upgrades, asbestos, three-phase upgrades, trenching, and animal-proofing often sit outside a headline figure. We will not guess the figure. We will insist the exclusions are written.
Can they explain shutdown and labelling? If they cannot, they are not ready to commission.
What you should read before booking anything
Read how solar works so kW and kWh do not get swapped. Read system types so “hybrid” is not a synonym for “better”. Read batteries only if evening load, tariff shape, or backup is actually your problem. Read rebate basics so you can see when a quote is mixing rails. Then open official pages. Booking before that sequence is how households buy a story instead of a system.
How rooftop solar systems work
Panels make DC from sunlight. An inverter makes AC. The house uses what it can. Surplus may export or charge a battery. Grid-tied inverters shut down when the grid is gone unless a documented backup mode exists. Details, monitoring, and connection sit on the how-it-works hub.
Grid-tied versus hybrid
Grid-tied stays connected and typically exports surplus. Hybrid adds storage on a grid-connected house. Off-grid is a stand-alone design with its own accreditation class. Backup during a blackout is not automatic with the word “hybrid”. See system types.
Solar plus battery, high level
Consider storage when you are really trying to move energy into the evening, when export is constrained or modestly valued, or when a defined backup circuit matters. Do not consider it because a flyer printed a payback year. We do not print one either. See batteries.
Rebates and incentives, general framing
Federal STCs under the SRES, possible state programs, and retailer feed-in tariffs. Deeming periods step down; state portals open and close; FiT rates move. Check current rules on official sites. See rebate basics.
How this publisher helps — and does not
Australian Solar Power is an independent education guide. We rewrite mechanisms. We cite official bodies. We do not dispatch crews, hold stock, or process certificates. Heritage URLs on this domain now point at these hubs. If you need a correction, use Contact. If you need a system, use accredited local trades.
Still-useful odds and ends
Do I need to replace my meter? Often a meter reconfiguration or replacement is part of enabling import/export recording. Your retailer and the metering coordinator own that process. Ask who initiates it.
Will solar work in a strata scheme? Strata and common-property rules can block or shape a system. That is a legal and owners-corporation question, not something this FAQ can approve.
What about electric vehicles? An EV is a large, movable load. It can increase daytime self-consumption if you charge at home while generating, or it can increase night imports if you charge after dinner. It does not automatically require a battery. It does require a load conversation.
What about hot water? Controlled-load tanks, heat pumps, and timers change the household’s daytime versus night-time shape. Mention them in the design brief.
Where does AEMO come in? Background: rooftop PV is visible in the National Electricity Market. That is why inverter settings and export limits exist. AEMO is not your rebate counter.
Take this page to the kitchen table. Annotate it. Then read the long hubs for the why, and the official sites for the yes-or-no.