Households win right to fight for sunlight on their solar panels

Homeowners with rooftop solar systems will be protected from neighbouring property developments overshadowing their roofs under changes to planning rules the Andrews government has introduced.

The Andrews government will introduce new planning
 rules to protect household solar panels from being
overshadowed by neighbouring developments.

The new residential planning rules, to be brought in later this month, will mean that overshadowing of existing solar panels and hot water systems will have to be considered in residential planning decisions.

Read the story from The Age by Adam Carey and Benjamin Preiss - “Households win right to fight for sunlight on their solar panels.”

One in five rooftop solar units deficient, official figures show

One in five rooftop solar systems are deficient and thousands of Australians are being denied lower power bills because their household solar delivers less electricity than promised, new data shows.

The Clean Energy Regulator found one in five
 rooftop solar systems were substandard.

As the number of rooftop solar systems on Australian homes and businesses tops 1.8 million, there are calls for stronger safeguards to weed out dodgy operators and ensure the technology’s benefits are fully realised.

Read the story by Nicole Hasham from The Age - “One in five rooftop solar units deficient, official figures show.”