Trying to work out how much to pay for a 5kW solar system in 2019 isn’t easy – many of our customers tell us how steep the learning curve is when trying to choose a system.
Unfortunately, a lot of solar systems you see advertised online are too cheap – they use no-name panels, and we hear stories every week of people being left high and dry by installers who go belly-up, or simply won’t return phone calls.
The other problem you need to watch out for is that many quotes will be overpriced. Unfortunately, certain solar installers believe that confusion = profit, which can make finding the right price for a good quality solar system tricky.
The first thing most people do when they search for a 5kW solar system is to find out how much it costs. Here are some typical ads you will see in your search results:
If you are new to solar power, your very first online search could have you believing a good quality 5kW solar system costs around $4000, maybe even less. The ads use words like ‘premium’ and ‘tier 1’.
It all sounds great… except it’s not. $4000 is far too cheap for a good quality 5kW solar system.
Don’t Buy A Cheap 5kW Solar System
If you were to get 3 quotes for a 5kW solar system from reputable solar installers in Sydney, you would find that our prices are all within a few hundred dollars of each other. Yes, there can be slight differences, but for the most part, the quotes will be around the same price.
To put it another way, you won’t find a $6,000 5kW system ‘on sale’ for $4000. Even if you’re happy for the installer to cut a few corners, you simply can’t get top quality brands for that type of money.
Good quality solar panels have dropped in price to the point that it no longer makes sense to consider the bottom end of the solar market when buying a 5kW solar system. You can have the best solar panels from the world’s leading manufacturers, online monitoring, a professional installation, full technical support, and still get a return on your money in 3-5 years.
Cheap solar is dead. ==> A warning about cheap solar systems
Price of a 5kW Solar System
To help you cut through the confusion, we believe you should have all the information you need to make an informed decision, including pricing.
And so here it is:
For a good quality 5kW solar system, the average solar price in Sydney starts at $5,500, fully installed. If you want panel-level output, expect to pay around $7,000. High-efficiency panels with all the bells and whistles will set you back around $8,500. This 18-panel system will output around 20kWh a day, and can save you up to $500 every quarterly power bill.
System Size | Solar Panels | Cheap Solar | Good Quality | Panel Level Output | Best of the Best |
5kW | 18 x 275W
15 x 335W |
Less than $5,500 | From $5,500 | From $7,000 | From $8,500 |
Green Loan | From $115* a month | From $145* a month | From $175* a month |
* Repayment numbers are estimates based on a 5-year term. 3-7 year terms available, more info here: Solar Power Green Loans
==> The future of solar power technology is here! Nearly all Solaray systems now feature panel-level output, online monitoring, back to base status alerts, home automation and more! Discover the next generation of solar technology with SolarEdge.
Request A FREE Quote For A 5kW Solar Power System Today
5kW Solar System Key Numbers
5kW System | |
---|---|
Number of Panels | From 14 x 365W Panels to 18 x 275W Panels |
Output | 19.5 kW/h a day average (see below) |
Potential Savings | $350 – $500 per quarterly bill depending on your cost of power |
Average Payback Period | 3 to 5 years |
Cost | From approx. $5500 to around $8500 for good brands |
Suited to | Medium to large homes using on average around 20 kWh a day during the daytime (or over 24 hours with battery storage) |
Output of a 5kW Solar System in Sydney
A 5kW solar system in Sydney is a great sized solar system for medium family sized home. This article will look at the benefits of installing a 5kW system, the main brands you should be looking at and provide detailed information to make sure this size system is the right fit for your household.
According to the Clean Energy Council Guidelines, A 5kW solar system in Sydney will output around 20 kWh a day (averaged out across the year), outputting more on the longer summer days, and less in winter. It is important to understand that this 20 kWh of solar power will be produced during daylight hours, and typically as a bell curve as illustrated below. Depending on how much power you use during the day, typically you would want to have a quarterly power bill of around $600 to $1000 (up to around 30 kWh a day excluding any off-peak hot water) to make good use of a 5kW system. These numbers will vary if you are planning on installing battery storage, as it is now possible to store excess solar power to be used in the evening, allowing households to run almost entirely off solar power. Please contact us for more information about this and how to accurately size up a battery ready solar system.
A solar system will peak when the sun is shining directly onto the panels, so for an array facing north, this will be for approximately 4 hours during the middle of the day. This system is installed on a roof facing north-west. This is a common orientation to face a solar array in Sydney, especially if you have time of use billing where power is most expensive between 2 pm and 8 pm. You can see in the graph how even in autumn the system will continue operating until 7 pm if you have the panels installed to catch the late afternoon sun.
The other important point to take away from this image, is that a 5kW system will almost never reach it’s peak output. This system reached a maximum output of 3.84 kW and yet produced 29.1 kWh of power across the day. For a 5kW system to output 5kW at any one time, it has to be the right time of the day and the right time of the year, which is very rare. In this example, the system is installed on a tile roof with a normal pitch of about 20 degrees. There are 19 panels all facing north-west. This helps extend the output into the late afternoon, as seen in the graph above. In Sydney during summer, panels that are installed flat will be working at their peak efficiency because the sun is so high in the sky.
For these panels installed at 20 degrees, the output will be higher than average in spring and autumn and slightly lower than average in summer and winter. The peak output on this system during a sunny March day is only 3.84 kW, however, even in March, this 5kW system will typically produce around 30 kWh a day, much higher than the Clean Energy Council guideline of 19.5 kWh.
Solaray is the largest and most experienced installer of Enphase Systems in NSW, and our expertise ensures your system is installed in a manner that optimises output and system performance. The performance of our Enphase portfolio is on average 110% of expected output, including systems that are installed on shaded roofs. This real-world performance is why thousands of households in NSW choose Solaray Energy for their solar installation.
Do you want this level of system monitoring? Our Enphase systems come with full system monitoring free for the life of your system. Find out more – Enphase Micro Inverter Systems
5kW Solar Systems in Sydney
Standard residential solar panels have been improving rapidly. LG Solar is now offering 360W panels, and as technology improves we are now seeing high-efficiency panels drop in price such as the LG NeON 2 325W panel. The Trina Honey Range now have a 275W panel as standard. This means that for a 5kW Solar Installation in Sydney, Solaray systems typically include 15 to 18 panels, either in series with a string inverter or as a 5kW Micro Inverter System powered by Enphase.
5kW Micro Inverter System
Solaray are the number one installer of Enphase Micro Inverter systems in NSW, and our system design team are experts at putting together a professional solar array that will maximise solar output in all conditions.
The main benefit of microinverters is that each panel is independent of the others, making it possible to design arrays in different orientations and at different angles. A common panel layout is to have some panels facing north, and the others west – to spread out the output of solar power across the day, making it easier to use most of the solar power as it is generated. Having panels west is also advantageous if you are on time of use billing, where you typically pay around 50c per kWh between 2 pm and 8 pm for your power.


A Bonus Tip – Oversize Your Solar
With solar prices so low these days, we find many customers buying larger systems up to around 10kW or so, even when their quarterly power bills are less than $1000 – the average size system we are currently installing is now well over 5kW. This is also due to skyrocketing feed-in tariffs. They have increased from around 5 cents per kWh to up over 12 cents per kWh. Many Solaray customers are now getting a lot more money for the solar power they aren’t using.
By installing extra capacity and taking advantage of generous government rebates, we see many households increasing their power usage to invest in their lifestyle by running pool pumps, air conditions and even spas from solar power.
As solar batteries become more popular, installing a large enough solar array to power your house from solar power 24 hours a day ensures you are 100% ready to invest in batteries when you choose to do so; many households are now sizing up a system based on their daily usage rather than their daytime usage in readiness for solar storage.
Please contact us for more information about battery-ready solar systems to discover what your options are, as not all systems are easily expandable.
Solaray Solar Sale On Now
Sydney's Best Pricing + Free Monitoring!


arnie
we currently have a 1.5 kw solar system in place
due to a new colorbond carport recently build to the side of our house we now have the capacity to have additional panels installed and increase the power output to approx 5kw
we would prefer to integrate our current system with the new system we believe this to be possible mobile no is 041…
James S
Its me again an old customer. I am looking to put on a 5Kw solar system, In addition to the current 2Kw enphase (with a small battery) system you installed previously. Correct me if I am wrong, my understanding is
1. No warranty will be voided because Solaray installed both
2. The 2 Kw panels face West. There is not much space left
there. Thus the new system’s panel have to be east facing
without significant loss of power generation at least in the
earlier hours of the day.
3. Finally a small complaint. The Enphase system stopped
reporting back power generation/ consumption data to
base (more than a year ago) since the system was changed
to wireless (from wired) by yourselves, when you attached
the small battery to the system. You did your best to help t
then. But no dice. So can that be fixed if and when we go
ahead with a new system
Regards
Brian Usher
Hello,
Does your pricing examples include the government rebate?
regards,
Brian
Solaray
Hi Brian,
Yes, the prices include the government rebate.