So, you’re planning to build a new home and want to add solar? Well… you’ve come to the right place! There’s nothing worse than moving into your brand-new home and receiving an enormous first power bill. By adding solar during construction, you are guaranteed to minimize your electricity bills from the outset. This article looks into four reasons why you should consider installing solar on your new home.

Rough-in / pre-wire during the new home build

Although most people choose to retrofit a solar system onto their home, this is not always the most aesthetically pleasing option. By designing your new home with solar in mind, you can minimize the visual impacts of solar including external conduits.

Ability to design a new home with panel layout in mind

One of the major considerations to be made when choosing to install solar is the panel layout/direction.  In Brisbane, the best panel direction is North. However, as seen on the compass below, anything between 353 to 0 degrees (North being 0 degrees) will yield 99.9% max energy when compared to other orientations.

Image Courtesy of SolarQuotes

When designing your new home, speak to your builder about maximizing usable, clear north-facing roof space for solar. Items to consider during the design process which can impact panel layout include:

• Design the most northern orientation of your roof as a singular clean roofline in order to run long, straight rows of panels.
• Install antennas, satellite dishes etc. on your southern roof.
• Minimize ventilation pipes, chimneys and skylights where solar panels are going.

Choose 3-phase power to make the most of your new home solar

Single phase wiring is the most common supply type for new homes. Three-phase is normally reserved for large homes with ducted air-conditioning systems or energy-hungry appliances. When considering solar however; you may want go three-phase even if your new home is modest in size. This is because, in Queensland, single phase houses can have 10kW inverter capacity and only 5kW of solar export to the grid, whereas, three-phase homes can export up to 15kW to the grid. You can learn more about single-phase vs three-phase supply on Energex’s website. Thus, always ask your builder or their nominated electrical contractor about getting three-phase supply for your new home.

Select your solar inverter location during the new home build

One of the main concerns people have when installing solar is the location of the inverter. When building a new home, you have control over where some of the services are located including the switchboard/meterbox. It’s important to remember that the closer your solar inverter is to your switchboard, the better. This is both to minimise voltage rise, and to minimise costs. Speak to your builder about this and let them know that you would like them to take this into consideration in the electrical design. In our experience, the ideal inverter location is a southern wall or inside your garage. Goodhew’s range of solar inverters are modern and will not take away from your new home’s aesthetic.

Speak to a Goodhew Solar Consultant today

Our friendly team of Solar Consultants are ready to help you start saving on your electricity bills. Speak to us today for a tailored solution for your solar needs and see why over 14,000 people have already chosen to install a Goodhew Solar System on their home or business.