Solar panels in Bendigo

Where the installs are going

That outer ring is where most of the recent installs have gone. Huntly and Epsom in particular have been building fast, and new homes there go up with solar-ready roofs and switchboards. The older goldfields suburbs of Long Gully, California Gully and Ironbark have more solar than you might expect, often on modest weatherboard homes where the bill matters.

Roofs and homes in Bendigo

Bendigo's housing runs from goldrush-era weatherboards and brick cottages through to sixties brick veneer and modern Colorbond estates. The older homes often have corrugated iron roofs that take panels easily, provided the iron is sound; a roof that is due for replacement should be replaced before the array goes on, not after. Heritage overlays apply in parts of central Bendigo and can affect what is visible from the street. Summer heat is the design factor: panels lose output as they get hot, so ventilation under the array and an inverter mounted out of the afternoon sun both matter here. Hail comes through central Victoria most springs, and it is worth reading the impact rating on the panel datasheet before you sign.

The network: Powercor

Powercor is the distributor. The usual single-phase export limit is 5 kW, three-phase homes can go higher, and flexible exports are available in some parts of the network. Because Bendigo's peak is a hot afternoon rather than a cold evening, a battery here does useful work covering the early evening when the air conditioner is still running and the array has stopped. Victoria's low minimum feed-in tariff makes self-consumption the priority.