In the older streets of Cranbourne the roof is rarely the problem. The board is. We design the solar and battery, upgrade the switchboard where it needs it, and put the lot in one fixed quote. Installed by our own A-Grade electricians from Somerville, about 20 minutes away.
Cranbourne was a country town long before it was a growth corridor, and the housing still shows it. Around the town centre, the station and the racecourse the streets are brick veneer from the 1970s through to the 1990s: single storey, tile roofs, a ducted gas heater overhead and a switchboard that has not been touched since the house was built. Head out from those streets in any direction and you are in estates from the 2000s and later, with modern boards and garages built for two cars.
For solar, both kinds of house have a good roof. A single-storey tile roof with a long north, east or west face is quick to work on and takes a useful array without much cutting around. The system we wrote up in Cranbourne is a fair guide: 21 Jinko panels for 9.975kW on a tile roof, a Sigenergy hybrid inverter and 16.12kWh of battery, on single-phase supply. Nothing exotic, and enough to carry that house through the evening on what it made during the day.
The difference is behind the meter box door. An older Cranbourne board may still have rewirable fuses, no safety switches on some circuits and no spare space, and a battery cannot be connected to that. So here the switchboard is part of the solar design, not a surprise on install day. We open it at the site visit, tell you plainly what it needs, and price it into the same quote as the panels. It sits alongside the rest of our work in Cranbourne.
The four parts of a Cranbourne system, in the order we check them.
Before any panel count, we look at the board. If it is original, we replace it with a new enclosure, safety switches on every circuit and spare poles for what comes next: a battery, a reverse cycle system, a heat pump or a car charger. In the newer estates this step is usually a quick check and nothing more.
Jinko Tiger Neo and Aiko panels fixed to the rafters through tile brackets, laid out so the longest unshaded face does most of the work. A single-storey roof is straightforward to reach and to work on, which is why most installs in the old town are finished in a day.
A hybrid inverter from Sigenergy, GoodWe or Sungrow runs the array and the battery together. Much of the older town is on single-phase supply, which sets the inverter size and how much the network lets you export. We confirm the supply, lodge the connection application and set up the monitoring app.
Plenty of the older homes have a carport instead of a garage, so the battery goes on a shaded outside wall near the meter box. Where there is a garage it goes inside, with bollards if a car parks next to it. Sigenergy, GoodWe, Tesla Powerwall and Sungrow are the batteries we fit.
The full range is on our products page.
Tier-one panels with 25-year performance warranties, laid out for the roof faces you have.
Hybrid and string inverters, chosen so a battery can join the system now or later.
Home batteries sized to the evening peak, with backup circuits set up for outages.
Home chargers wired into the same system and set to charge from your solar first.
A Cranbourne install and two from the suburbs that border it. Each links to the full write-up.
21 Jinko Tiger Neo panels across a tile roof, feeding a single-phase Sigenergy hybrid inverter and two SigenStor modules. Sized so the evening runs on what the roof collected that day.
28 Jinko Tiger Neo III panels, a GoodWe inverter with three GoodWe battery modules, and a 7kW GoodWe EV charger mounted on the driveway column.
26 Jinko Tiger Neo panels with a single-phase Sigenergy hybrid inverter. The three battery modules are mounted against an exterior wall.
The same sequence for a 1970s brick veneer and a 2015 estate home. The first step just takes longer in one of them.
We open the switchboard, check the supply and the meter, measure the roof faces and look at where a battery can go.
A panel layout on a picture of your roof, the inverter and battery sizes, and a line that says exactly what happens to the switchboard.
One figure after the Solar Victoria rebate if you qualify, the STCs and the federal battery discount. Any board upgrade is inside it.
We lodge the network application and the rebate paperwork. On the day the board is done first, then panels, inverter and battery.
Each circuit is tested, the app is set up on your phone, and you get the Certificate of Electrical Safety.
None of them is claimed back afterwards. All three are worked out before you see a price.
For eligible owner-occupiers, on the solar panels and inverter only. Our Cranbourne job used the rebate and we did the paperwork. It does not cover batteries: the Solar Victoria battery rebate and battery loan closed in 2025.
Cheaper Home Batteries takes around 30 percent off an approved battery, with no income test. It is the battery incentive available now, and it is applied on the quote.
Small-scale technology certificates are a federal incentive on the solar panels, deducted at the point of sale. A switchboard upgrade attracts no rebate, which is why we show its cost as its own line.
An old board is routine work for an electrical contractor. For a sales company it is a problem to pass on.
We are A-Grade electricians working under REC 32300. Switchboards, mains and metering are everyday work for us, not something handed to another trade.
The depot is at Speedwell Street, Somerville, 17 km away. Site visits are easy to book and the crew that installed the system is the one that comes back.
The ducted gas heater in an older Cranbourne roof is the next big load to go electric. We also install reverse cycle heating and cooling in Cranbourne, so the array is sized with it in mind.
SAA accredited for solar and battery design and install, New Energy Tech Approved Seller, and everyone on site is a Powerband employee.
Live Google reviews. Look for the Sigenergy, GoodWe and Powerwall jobs.
Not covered here? Ring 0466 355 441 and talk to an electrician.
Sometimes solar alone, rarely a battery. A board with rewirable fuses, no safety switches or no spare space has to be replaced before a battery is connected. We tell you at the site visit and the upgrade is priced into the same quote.
Open the meter box. Porcelain fuse holders with fuse wire, and a single safety switch or none, are the signs. If you see rows of modern circuit breakers with test buttons, it is probably fine. Send us a photo and we can usually tell.
Our written-up Cranbourne job is 9.975kW with a 16.12kWh battery on single-phase power, and the jobs either side of town run to 12 and 13kW. The right size comes from your roof and your evening use, and from whether heating or a car will be added later.
If the panels still produce well and you have spare roof, we can add to it. Often the old array sits on the best face and its inverter is near the end, so one new system gives far more from the same roof. We test it and show you both.
On a shaded external wall close to the switchboard, with the clearances from windows and doors that the installation rules require. We mark the position at the site visit so you know what it will look like.
Yes. Those homes have modern boards and a garage, so the job is simpler: array, hybrid inverter, and battery near the board. Most are done in a day.
We inspect the roof and the board, then send a written quote with the layout, the battery size and one after-rebate price. No obligation.
