Solar for houses
Inner West is going solar - you can too
Over 6,300 homes in the Inner West have gone solar. Council can support you to go solar:
How much do solar systems cost?
Residential solar installations in the Inner West are usually between 3kW and 7kW in size. For a good quality system, you can expect to pay around $3,500 - $5,000 for a 3kW system, $5,500 - $7,000 for 5kW, $6,500 - $8,000 for 6kW, and $7,500 - $9,000 for 7kW.
How long should it take for my system to pay itself off?
You can expect to save between 30-60% off your electricity bills with solar so your system will start paying itself off straight away.
Payback time is usually between 3 to 7 years. Given that solar panels should last more than 20 years, there will be many years after your system pays itself off that it will continue to generate savings for you.
Do I need development approvals to install solar PV?
In most situations, no.
In general, household rooftop solar panel installations do not require development consent if certain requirements are met. Some of these requirements include reducing their visual impact, especially on properties with heritage significance (e.g. Heritage Items or in Heritage Conservation Areas) and limiting impact on neighbours. If you are unable to meet these requirements you may need to submit a development application (DA). The DA fee is waived for solar-only applications.
If clarification is needed, you can call Inner West Council's duty planners on 9392 5000 to check.
It is also important to ensure that the chosen location for panels is not likely to be overshadowed by future development on neighbouring properties.
I want to find out about approvals for solar
How can I check whether my roof suits solar?
The Australian Photovoltaic Institute has mapped out the solar potential (that's how much energy solar panels on your roof should produce) of every roof in the Inner West and used this information to create a tool called SunSPoT.
On SunSPoT, you can see which parts of your roof get sufficient sunshine to be suitable for solar panels (these areas are marked with red, orange and yellow dots). You can then mark out these parts of your roof (or roofs, if your house has several roof planes) to find out the potential system size - in kilowatts - that could fit on your roof. So check your roof on the SunSPoT roof mapping tool.