5 articles with this tag
A home energy management system (HEMS) automates when your home uses solar energy. For Perth households with large loads (pool, EV, hot water), a HEMS can meaningfully improve solar self-consumption without manual effort. Here's what they do and what's available in 2026.
A solar diverter sends excess solar generation to your hot water system instead of exporting at 2c/kWh. Here's how they work, what they cost, and whether one makes sense for your Perth home.
Every kilowatt-hour your Perth solar system generates either replaces grid electricity you would have bought (at 33.26c/kWh) or exports to the grid under the DEBS scheme (2c/kWh off-peak, 10c/kWh during the 3pm-9pm peak window). Since most solar exports happen during the 2c off-peak window, self-consumption is usually worth 31.26c/kWh more, and still worth 23.26c/kWh more for the smaller share of exports that land in the 10c peak window. Either way, self-consumption is almost always the better outcome, but the practical question is how much you can actually shift.
The more solar you use directly (instead of exporting at 2c/kWh), the better your payback. Without a battery, you maximise self-consumption by shifting appliance loads into solar generation hours. Here's how Perth households do it.
How much of your electricity can you generate and use yourself in Perth? Here's what genuine solar self-sufficiency looks like for a Perth household: what's achievable, what it costs, and why 100% is rarely the goal.