(REPOST: One Step Off The Grid)
Major Australian home builder Metricon says more than half of the roughly 1,000 new homes it is building a year in New South Wales alone will have rooftop solar and battery storage included.
That’s because more and more customers are opting for design packages with energy security built in – and it ends up just being a couple more standard modern appliances.
The residential developer is just the latest to reveal a new deal it is offering in partnership with solar installer CSR Bradford, where NSW and Queensland customers who choose its Designer by Metricon range will also have the option to include a Solar ChargePack.
This package includes CSR’s package of 5.4kW of rooftop solar and the latest home battery offering from Tesla, the Powerwall 2, which has a storage capacity of 13.5kWh. They’re even offering the chance to win a Tesla Model S EV – worth a cool $100k – as a sweetener for the deal.
And according to Bradford Energy, which has struck up these sorts of deals with a number of property groups across a number of states, there are now around 40-50 new home builders throughout Australia that are including solar and storage, either as a standard feature or an optional “luxury” upgrade.
Of course, the decision by new home owners to add rooftop solar is no great surprise. With electricity prices going in one direction (up), and the cost of solar going in the other (down), many would argue it is a no-brainer.