Solar farming

[harm_less]

Im seriously considering solar, I can fit 5kW on my garage roof, its angled more to the west but gets the sun for a good portion of the day.
The big drawback is how little the grid pay you back, you really need a battery to make up for it.
Sodium ion batteries will be a real gamechanger in this department.
Ive been looking at building a bank out of 18650 batteries from e-bike packs, i can find these easily and cheap but would take a bid to build.

IMO your best approach will be to schedule your electricity use to absolutely maximise the amount of your generation that you can use as it is available. This includes incorporating components such as power diverters to control HWC consumption and EV chargers that monitor your outward (exported) electricity flow and direct it to EV charging. The key thing to be aware of is that any generation that you are able to use yourself will offset electricity that you would otherwise be importing at whatever rate applies at that given time. By self consuming generation the value of that electricity essentially becomes full retail (incl. GST) to you which is the highest value possible (excluding by way of gaming the wholesale electricity price structure , which is a whole different conversation). This information on the various suppliers' solar FIT rates is also worth checking out if you haven't already but do be aware of significant fish hooks that can compromise some of the plans' overall viability.

Investing in batteries really ramps up the size of your investment and payback on this is reliant on the differential between your export rate (FIT) and the rate in place when you plan to be drawing down your battery. So far as DIY home battery installation is concerned be aware of the home insurance implications of such a system and also the regulatory hoops that need to be jumped through as it will likely be connected to the grid via your house supply.

I struggle with the pricing of static home battery systems vs. the same capacity (and usually far more) contained within an EV. For example 4x Tesla Powerwalls are around the same price as a Model 3 or Y EV but without the mobility advantage - something suspicious there! An increasing amount of EV manufacturers are now making their vehicles bidirectional charge compatible which is a move in the right direction in regards to V2G or V2H functionality which will render static home batteries a lot less attractive than is the case now. We just have to wait for the required bidirectional EVSEs ('chargers') to become available at a sensible price and for the lines companies to modify their regulatory platform accordingly.