COMMON QUESTIONS

Typically 2 to 4 weeks from the time you approve your quote. That window covers stock procurement, Energex grid connection approval, and scheduling our installation team.

The installation itself takes one day for a standard residential solar and battery system.

The installation day itself usually takes 1 day for a standard residential system.

For most Gold Coast homes, yes — and the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program has significantly improved the economics. Queensland's solar feed-in tariff currently sits between 5 and 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, which means energy exported to the grid earns you very little. A battery lets you store that energy and use it at night, when grid electricity costs three to five times more than the export rate.

The payback period for a well-sized battery system in South-East Queensland typically falls between 5 and 8 years.

Gold Coast homes also benefit from backup power during storm-related outages, which adds practical value beyond the bill savings.

The Cheaper Home Batteries Program is a federal government initiative that provides upfront discounts on eligible battery installations through a tradeable certificate scheme (similar to the existing solar STC rebate). For a standard 10 kWh battery, the rebate reduces the installed cost by approximately $3,300 to $4,500. The discount is applied by your installer at the point of sale — there is no paperwork for the homeowner. To access the rebate, your installer must be CEC-accredited.

Evolved Solar is fully accredited and processes the rebate automatically on every qualifying installation.

For a typical Gold Coast household using 20 to 25 kWh per day, a 6.6 kW to 10 kW solar system is a common starting point.

The right size depends on your daytime usage patterns, roof orientation and available space, whether you are planning to add a battery now or later, and whether you have an EV or pool pump that can be timed to run during solar generation hours. We assess all of these factors before recommending a system size — we do not use a one-size formula.

In most cases, yes. The main considerations are whether your existing inverter is battery-ready or compatible with a battery retrofit, the age and condition of your current system, and your switchboard's capacity.

We assess existing systems before recommending a battery addition and will tell you honestly if a retrofit is not worthwhile. In some cases, replacing an ageing inverter as part of the battery upgrade is the better long-term option.

We install GoodWe battery systems as our primary product range. Goodwe is a tier-one manufacturer with strong Australian warranties and local technical support. We specify this brand because we have confidence in its long-term performance and because we can stand behind it — not because of margin incentives.

We do not install every brand on the market, and we will tell you if a brand we do not stock is genuinely the better fit for your situation.

We set every customer up with a smart monitoring app connected to their inverter.

This lets you see in real time how much energy your panels are generating, how much you are using, and how much is going to or coming from the grid. If we install a consumption meter — which we strongly recommend — you can also track your household's total energy usage patterns. We walk you through the app on installation day and are available if you have questions afterwards.

The Gold Coast's regular rainfall means panels installed at a standard pitch of 10 degrees or more are largely self-cleaning under normal conditions.

If you have significant tree coverage, live near a construction site, or notice bird droppings accumulating, a professional clean every 12 to 18 months will protect your system's output. We can advise on cleaning services if needed.

Not always, but often. Older switchboards — particularly those with ceramic fuses rather than circuit breakers — are generally not compatible with modern solar inverters and must be upgraded before installation can proceed. Even newer switchboards sometimes lack the spare capacity or correct configuration for a battery system.

We assess your switchboard as part of every site visit and include any required upgrade in your quote upfront, so there are no surprises on installation day.

A standard residential switchboard upgrade on the Gold Coast typically costs between $1,500 and $3,500, depending on the complexity of the existing board, whether a meter box upgrade is also required, and the scope of work involved.

When combined with a solar or battery installation, we coordinate both jobs as a single project so there is no double-handling or scheduling delays. We provide a fixed-price quote before any work begins.

A licensed electrical contractor can carry out a switchboard upgrade, but for solar installations specifically, the work needs to be coordinated with the solar system design and Energex grid connection requirements.

Having the same team handle both the solar installation and the switchboard upgrade — as we do at Evolved Solar — avoids the miscommunication and liability gaps that arise when two separate trades share a job.