Solar and strata: how do you escape the bureaucratic nightmare?

When Waverton local Ed Yan began looking into getting solar for his apartment complex, he found the process “very overwhelming”. 

Even with the allure of government grants, the logistics of dividing rooftop space between owners, organising strata meetings and finding reputable installers can make the process a tough gig on top of a day job. 

Untapped potential: While more than a third of NSW homes have rooftop solar, NSW Government figures indicate only 3.5 percent of apartments have a solar connection. 

According to data from the 2021 census, more than three quarters of North Sydney residents live in a flat or apartment. Toward the more suburban upper North Shore, that figure drops significantly, but still makes up more than a third of occupied homes.

Government grants: Programs like the NSW Solar for Apartment Residents have tried to address this gap, offering large grants to body corporates that adopt solar systems. But according to Yan, as much of the struggle can come from managing all the admin.

“It required quite a lot of research, bringing the topic up at more than one AGM … once you’ve got approval to go ahead, there’s a fair bit to navigate,” he told the Lorikeet. 

Local owner: The strata committee at Yan’s building decided to install rooftop solar last year.

The complicated nature of solar installations in apartment buildings is something Australian companies like Allume Energy are capitalising on by providing what they say are simpler, more efficient solar systems for unit blocks.

Sharing the roof: Allume’s main product is SolShare, a box typically installed near the electricity meter board that divides rooftop solar energy between apartments and maximises power efficiency.

• The Smart Energy Council's Chief Strategy Officer Nigel Morris said that without a shared system owners would have to install individual solar in each apartment.
  

• “It’s been a barrier to the point where a majority of cases have not proceeded because of the cost and complexity ... you’re adding tens of thousands of dollars in costs, and in some cases you just can't do it,” Morris told the Lorikeet.

Allume runs Q&A sessions, assists with grant applications and links strata committees to  installers. 

Since installing a 26kw solar system between 12 units in October, Yan has seen his usage of grid power drop by around 30%.

“I’m a bit of a geek, I do log on quite frequently and look at the energy usage and compare the bills,” he said.

Nobody in Yan’s block was forced to change to solar, although ultimately all did.

The cost of installing the solar panels and the Allume system was $70,749, reduced to $37,597 with government rebates. Yan’s share of that was $3,133. The estimated return on investment on the system is just under two and a half years.