Solar in Narre Warren SouthLarge homes, large loads, awkward roofs
Narre Warren South filled in through the 1990s and 2000s with the estate homes of that period: wide frontages, double garages, two living areas, four or five bedrooms and, on a lot of blocks, a second storey. The houses use a lot of energy because there is a lot of house to heat, cool and light, and most of it happens between the school run and bedtime, after the sun has gone.
The roofs match the houses. A tile roof from that era is rarely two plain faces. It has hips and valleys, a step where the garage meets the house, sometimes an upper level shading the lower one, and often an evaporative cooler sitting in the middle of the best face. A good Narre Warren South design starts by mapping every face for direction and shade, then working out how to wire them so the weaker faces do not hold back the stronger ones.
The other half of the design is the evening. When we fitted a six-zone ducted reverse cycle system for an owner here, he told us solar and a battery would be next, and that is the right way to think about it: a system that size is the main thing the battery has to carry after dark. We size storage around the heating and cooling you run, as part of everything we do in Narre Warren South.