Solar panels in Central Coast

Where the installs are going

Housing here is unusually varied. The Peninsula at Woy Woy and Umina is full of older fibro and weatherboard homes on small blocks, the lakeside suburbs have a lot of brick veneer from the seventies and eighties, and the estates at Hamlyn Terrace and Woongarrah are new builds with modern switchboards. Each needs a different conversation about roof condition before anyone talks about panels.

Roofs and homes in Central Coast

Two things matter on Central Coast roofs: salt and trees. The coast is exposed, so anything from Killcare to Norah Head should be specified with coastal-rated mounting and fasteners. Inland, the bushland that makes the area pleasant also shades a lot of roofs, particularly around Kariong, Narara and Ourimbah, where tall gums sit close to houses. A proper shade analysis, done from your roof rather than from a satellite image, is worth insisting on. Older tile roofs on the Peninsula often need a few tiles replaced before an array goes on.

The network: Ausgrid

Ausgrid serves the whole Central Coast, which puts it on the same network rules as Sydney and Newcastle. Single-phase homes are usually limited to a 5 kW export, and Ausgrid has been rolling out flexible export arrangements in some areas that let larger systems export more when the network has room. If you are in a new estate you probably have three-phase supply already; older homes usually do not, and it is worth asking what upgrading would cost if you are thinking about a battery and an electric car.