More than 600,000 homes and businesses will connect rooftop solar to the Endeavour Energy network by 2040. Find out the benefits of rooftop solar and how we are supporting our solar customers.

Why customers are choosing rooftop solar

Our customers are leading the way with rooftop solar. Already more than 300,000 customers connected to the Endeavour Energy network have rooftop solar, and the number of solar customers is expected to double by 2040. We have also seen residential rooftop solar systems double in size over the last 10 years.

There are clear benefits of solar for customers. With rooftop solar you can:

  • power your home or business with clean, renewable energy
  • reduce your household electricity bills by consuming the solar energy you generate. (Solar energy is the cheapest energy to consume – it powers your home or business for 0c/kWh)
  • be paid to export your excess solar energy (whatever you can’t consume) back to the grid
  • reduce the cost of charging an electric vehicle
  • connect a battery to further reduce your electricity bills
  • significantly reduce your household's greenhouse emissions
  • support an affordable, sustainable energy future for all by participating in a community battery or a Virtual Power Plant.

Making the most of your solar

To get the most out of your existing rooftop solar, don’t just ‘set and forget’.

Solar customers can maximise the value of their rooftop solar and drive down electricity costs by following a few simple tips:

  • consume as much of your solar energy as you can. You make the most savings by consuming your own solar energy, which is always cheaper than paying for energy from the grid
  • use electric appliances in the middle of the day when your solar system is generating electricity
  • use timers to power your appliances with solar during the day even when you are not at home
  • regularly monitor your rooftop solar app to understand how much solar energy your system generates during the day. This will help you consume more energy from your rooftop solar and less energy from the grid
  • don’t overlook peak rates and off-peak rates when choosing a retail pricing plan with feed-in tariffs. If you still need energy from the grid, look at all the rates, not just the feed-in tariff, to consider the best plan for your energy consumption.

I am considering rooftop solar

If you are thinking about getting rooftop solar, it’s a great investment in your sustainable and affordable future energy. Like all investments, we recommend you do some research and planning. To help you make the best decision for your home or business, you might consider the following steps:

  • check your recent energy bills to understand how much energy you currently consume
  • consider what size solar system will meet your current and future energy needs. (For example, if you are thinking about purchasing an electric vehicle, will you want to charge an EV using solar?)
  • consider your budget for rooftop solar
  • use an independent, government approved solar and battery calculator like SunSPOT to test what size rooftop system might suit you, and whether a battery would also suit your needs
  • obtain competitive installation quotes from 3 solar installers approved by New Energy Tech Consumer Code (NETCC). You can find a list of approved sellers here
  • ask the approved sellers how the solar panels and inverters they propose and the proposed placement of panels on your roof maximises your solar energy and minimises your payback period. (Check whether their proposals align with the estimates SunSPOT or a similar tool provided you)
  • understand the government rebates, loans and incentives that you can access to subsidise or support the cost of solar or battery installation.

If you decide to proceed, your chosen approved seller will apply on your behalf to connect your rooftop solar to the Endeavour Energy network. We approve compliant applications quickly.

Some useful references for further reading on connecting solar, batteries, approved sellers, and government rebates include:

What is Endeavour Energy doing to support solar customers?

We want more affordable, renewable solar energy in the grid. To support our customers’ move to solar, we are investing in smart grid upgrades that transform the grid to a smart and dynamic network that is more efficient and more sustainable.

There is a hurdle we are working to overcome. Yesterday’s grid was not designed to receive large amounts of solar energy. On sunny days, lots of excess solar energy can overload the grid, causing local power outages and damaging appliances.

With solar customers expected to double in the next 15 years, and larger rooftop systems being connected to the grid, we are acting now to make the grid smarter.

Smart upgrades to the network mean we can safely host more solar energy without impacting network reliability. That means more savings for solar customers, and a more sustainable and affordable energy future for all. Find out below what we are doing to upgrade the grid to make it solar-fit for today and the future.

Flexible Exports

Flexible Exports is a new choice in customer solar connection that will allow customers with single-phase power, who are currently limited to 5kW of solar export, to double their solar exports without destabilising the grid or causing local power quality or reliability issues.

We estimate that Flexible Exports will unlock an additional 600MW of solar energy exports to the grid by 2035, worth $100M+ to solar customers connected to our network.

Endeavour Energy is working with solar retailers and solar installers to make Flexible Exports available to all export-limited customers by 2026. We have launched a Customer Trial that will help us design Flexible Exports as a standard solar connection option from 2026.

You can read more about Flexible Exports, our Customer Trial, and the savings it can deliver solar customers here .

Community and Network Batteries

Network batteries improve local network stability in areas with lots of rooftop solar. They are connected to the grid to help regulate frequency and voltage fluctuations that can be caused by large amounts of excess solar being exported to the grid in a local area. They stabilise the grid and prevent solar inverters from tripping.

Community batteries allow local communities to share and store excess solar energy between customers. We are planning about 80 community batteries where future demand may be higher than the current network could reliably service.

You can read more about community batteries here .

Network-wide, smart technology upgrades

In addition to new services customers can directly participate in (Flexible Exports and community batteries) Endeavour Energy is also investing in network-wide, smart technology upgrades that let us see and manage network performance in real time. Smart network upgrades include:

  • improving visibility of the low-voltage network to increase the two-way flow of solar energy.
  • using smart meter data to keep the local grid steady, avoiding solar inverters tripping off and local outages.
  • balancing load on the grid from single and three-phase connections to improve fair access to the grid for all solar customers. No matter where you are, you’ll have the same opportunity to send your excess solar energy back to the grid.

For a summary of these initiatives supporting solar customers, see our fact sheet.