The short answer
Yes, most solar systems can take a battery. Either a battery with its own inverter goes in beside your current one, or a hybrid inverter replaces it and runs both. The federal rebate applies either way. Which suits you depends mostly on your inverter's age, your switchboard and whether you want backup.
The two ways to add a battery
A battery with its own inverter, often called AC-coupled, goes in beside your current solar. Your panels and inverter stay as they are, and the battery charges from whatever solar you'd otherwise send to the grid.
A hybrid inverter replaces your current inverter and runs the panels and the battery together. It's often the better choice when your inverter is getting old, because you'd be replacing it soon anyway.
See the Anker SOLIX X1 AC-CoupledWhat we check first
- Your inverter's age and model, and whether it can work with a battery
- Your switchboard, which sometimes needs an upgrade to fit a battery safely
- Single-phase or three-phase power, which narrows the batteries that suit
- Your network's export rules, which we apply to for you
- How much you use in the evening and overnight, to size the battery
- Whether you want backup in a blackout, and for which circuits
Is it worth it?
If you're sending most of your solar to the grid for a few cents and buying power back at night for much more, a battery lets you keep it. It's worth most to homes that use a lot in the evening.
Our savings calculator gives you a figure for your bill with the rebate applied, and your quote confirms it.
Open the savings calculatorThe rebate still applies
The federal battery rebate is for the battery, so it applies whether you're adding to existing solar or starting fresh. A battery installed by 31 December 2026 gets the higher rate.
How much the rebate is worth
