Buying Solar In 2025 - Made Easy
It all begins with a high electricity bill. You want to stop paying for your energy at your home, and make it yourself. Maybe look into battery storage to future-proof your home against energy price rises in the future. Or maybe you have a thought of upgrading your car to an electric version in a few years time. Whatever it is, your solar system needs to be purposely built with the future in mind.
There are thousands of solar products across multiple websites giving general advice, but what are experts seeing and installing in Australian?
As the solar products update every 6-12 months with a new version, or wattage panel being released. Please be aware of the age of the articles you are reading, as a 2020 product review is completely different to a 2025 product review in this industry.
Anatomy of Solar
A Solar System is made up of 3 main components;
Solar Panels, which convert sunlight into energy
Inverter, which turns the DC from your panels into AC electricity your home uses
Monitoring, which lets you see how your solar is performing.
Solar Panels
In 2009 when I started in Electrical, the residential solar industry was just starting with 150W solar panels. In 2019 when I specialised in premium solar solutions, we had 275W blue-silicon panels with silver frames (the ugly old solar systems that are being replaced now) and each year solar panel’s outputs increased and the technology jumps has allowed panels to increase output to 300W -> 330W -> 350W -> 390W -> 415W and now 440W All-Black panels.
2019 Trina 250W P-Type Solar Panel VS 2024 Jinko 440W N-Type Solar Panel
Solar panels convert the sun’s light into energy and are around 22-24% efficient as of 2025. These panels can range from $120 up to $650 per panel depending on the quality of the solar manufacturer.
We have always been of the same opinion of industry experts, that you buy only quality solar panels on your home to ensure the best long-term performance of your solar system. Over the last 5 years, the best panel manufacturers have been;
Sunpower Maxeon or REC’s Alpha RX ($300-$600 per panel)
Sunpower P7 Bi-Facial** or REC’s Alpha Pure-R ($200-$300 per panel)
Sunpower P6 All-Black or REC’s TwinPeak 5 Black ($150-200 per panel)
Trina Vertex Bi-Facial** ($120-$150 per panel)
Jinko N-Type Tiger Saturn Neo ($120-$150 per panel)
**Greenswell Electrical Recommends for 2025 installations
All these above panels have a minimum 25-year product and performance warranty. Along with the outstanding product warranty, these panels are also the best produced panels in the market for a while now across Australia. Don’t bother entertaining any quotes that do not include the above products.
PS: Sunpower Performance = 30-year warranty & Maxeon = 40-year warranty.
Solar Inverters
These are the heart of the solar systems and deserve a big consideration when you are planning your first OR next solar system. There are three types of inverters available;
String Inverters - these are the cheapest and most straightforward inverter on the market. These are not battery-ready inverters.
Hybrid Inverters - more expensive type of string inverter because they have the technology to handle the solar and battery connections directly. You are a premium upfront for these inverters, but saves you a lot money down the track when you look into battery storage. Expect to add $1,000-$2,000 to your solar system price for this. Fronius Gen24 Inverters are these types of inverters!
Microinverters - these A5 sized components sit behind each panel and transform the DC electricity into AC electricity on the rooftop which is safer. These are ideal for complicated roof designs or for individuals who want to track panel-level performance frequently. Expect to add 20-30% to your solar system price for this.
Lately at the end of 2024, research has been coming out that disproves the shade-beneficial myth for these devices. Will be interesting time in 2025 to see how Enphase microinverters go in the market.
Difficult Roof Layouts = Sunpower Panels with Enphase IQ8HC micro-inverters.
In 2025, if you aren’t buying a Hybrid inverter or at least a Fronius Gen24 unlockable version via software, you are doing yourself harm in the next few years. With more and more families getting solar and looking shortly after at battery technology to stored their solar generated during the day into night-time usable energy for their family.
Typically a family after 2-3 years of having solar will look into battery storage to offset their night time electricity usage to further more reduce their ongoing bills.
The benefits of Fronius software and full-consumption monitoring will be realised when your Fronius app can utilise your existing home data captured to size up an appropriate home battery to completely off-set your night time loads.
Fronius Gen24 Hybrid inverter mounted with wiring all concealed in the wall cavity
The Top 3 recommended solar inverters in 2024 are;
Fronius Gen24 Plus “Ready for a Battery” Greenswell Recommends
Fronius Gen24 “Unlockable Hybrid Inverter” Greenswell Recommends
Sungrow Hybrid (SH10RS / SH15T) are best value residential options
Enphase IQ8HC Micro-inverters
#1 rule for new homes = get a Fronius Gen24 for simple roofs.
Monitoring
To check how your system is performing and see the energy your home uses (and when), you need a smart meter (aka a consumption monitor) that goes inside your switchboard.
Fronius Smart Meter installed in your switchboard on every installation with Greenswell Electrical.
These are separate to your AGL / Origin Electricity Retailer’s Energy meter.
What’s the difference? Your electricity meter only shares its data with your energy retailer. A consumption monitor shares it with you – in real-time.
Consumption monitors are highly recommended to keep track of your energy use, otherwise you can’t change your habits to maximise your savings from solar.
HINT: The home with consumption monitoring saves an extra $500 per year than the family without the consumption data, from you having knowledge to drive behavioural change around your own energy usage patterns.
