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News of electricity price rises sparked the start of a rush on solar power systems in May. Find out what Australian solar buyers were wanting.

Where capacity choices of 3-5 kW, 5-10 kW, 10-15 kW, 15-20 kW, 20+ kW and “Fill Roof” were presented on the SolarQuotes quote form and one of these options selected, just under 79% chose 5-10kW capacity in May, similar to April. Close to 12% selected the “Fill Roof” option in May, up a little on April.

Unsure what size system you should install on your home? Check out SQ Founder Finn’s advice on how much solar power you’ll need.

A little over 22% of Australians wanted to purchase a system immediately in May; up a tad on April. As official news of electricity price hikes for SE QLD, SA, NSW, regional QLD and Victoria didn’t occur until late in the month, June’s figures may show a marked increase in a sense of urgency. In May, a further 33% expressed an intention to buy a solar system within the next 4 weeks; up a little on April and March. Again, the proportion will probably pick up during June.

Similar to April – in May, 12% of prospective buyers were wanting a top quality (i.e., most expensive) system, 81% a solar energy package that strikes a good balance of price and quality, and 7% a good budget system.

The SQ auSSII reports cover what Australian buyers want in a solar power system – but what are they paying? You can see current and historical pricing on fully installed systems using the SolarQuotes Australian Solar Price Index. We also publish a special report here on the blog towards the end of each month on average system and per-watt costs for the previous month.

MLPE (Module Level Power Electronics) are also known as Panel Level Optimisation (PLO) devices. These include microinverters and optimisers, which offer increased system design flexibility, panel level monitoring and advanced safety features.

While using microinverters and optimisers will add around 20 – 30% on to the cost of a system, there is significant interest among Australian buyers. In May, 17% of those submitting a quote request wanted more information on PLO devices; down on April (18%) and March and February (19%).

All modern solar power systems have some degree of monitoring, but it usually only tells half the story – solar electricity production. Advanced solar monitoring is an option system buyers should give serious consideration as it provides detailed consumption information that can be used to extract maximum value from a system, and better alerting when something is amiss. In May, 35% were interested advanced monitoring (April: 35%, March: 37%).

Little has changed here over time. Close to 6% of quote requests indicated an interest in a battery-ready solar system. It’s worth noting just about all solar power systems are “battery- ready” through  DC-coupling. However, we include this question on the quote form to assist prospective installers better understand the enquirer’s future intentions; which can help inform system design.

Interest in a concurrent home battery installation along with solar dropped back a little in May – a touch over 18% compared to 20% in April. This is more in line with what we were recording for the previous 4 months. It will be interesting to see if power price hikes generate more interest in a concurrent solar battery installation in June.

If you’re considering home batteries, Finn’s “101” battery guides provide valuable advice on understanding, buying and owning a solar battery, and it’s also worth checking out SQ’s solar battery reviews.

Again very similar results in May compared with April for primary use intention:

Where current quarterly electricity costs were provided, 45% of Australians reported paying in the range of $500 to $1,000 a quarter – down from 48% in May. Those paying more than $1,000 a quarter crept up a little on April to just over 10% in May, but still lower than the previous month.

Pumped up power bills from cold weather and price hikes are yet to hit mailboxes and inboxes, so there may be significant changes here in the months ahead.

SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock puts installers through the wringer so you don’t have to. Thousands of Australians use SQ’s quoting service each month to get up to 3 quotes from trusted installation professionals.

SolarQuotes has been connecting Australians eager to install panels with quality solar installers since 2009. Discover what it takes to starting benefiting from SQ’s solar sales leads.

You’re welcome to reproduce information from auSSII reports, but please ensure you 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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