8kW Solar System for Melbourne Homes: Pricing, Output, and Potential Savings
Many homeowners in Melbourne are choosing larger systems to protect themselves from rising electricity prices. An 8kW or 10kW system size is becoming increasingly popular.
You might wonder if an 8kW system is the right fit for your home or if it’s more than you need. To help you find out, consider your energy consumption, roof space, and how much of your energy you want to offset with solar power. Let’s look at the key numbers including how much power an 8kW system produces and the potential savings.
Key Takeaways:
Pricing for 8kW Solar Systems in Melbourne
A quality 8kW solar system with premium panels like 1KOMMA5° starts at $9,600. You may also qualify for rebates, which reduce the cost by up to $2,800.
Potential Savings
An 8kW solar system can save households up to $2,500 annually on energy bills. The actual savings depend on your power usage.
Bundle Your System with a Solar Battery
Pairing an 8kW solar system with a Tesla Powerwall battery can eliminate power bills for households with daily usage of around 30-40 kWh. Depending on the size, a battery costs about $29,850 for a 13.5kWh storage, with additional government loans available to reduce the upfront cost.Savings and Feed-in Tariffs
Solar power used directly in the home can save up to 28 cents per kWh. Any excess power sent to the grid may earn a feed-in tariff of 5-12 cents per kWh.
8kW Solar System Price in Melbourne
For a system of this size, investing in high-quality panels is essential. A premium 8kW solar system from 1KOMMA5° starts at $9,600.
Many Melbourne households are also eligible for support through Solar Victoria. You could receive a $1,400 rebate on your solar system, plus access an additional $1,400 interest-free loan—reducing your upfront cost by up to $2,800.
When it comes to solar, you generally get what you pay for. That’s why most of our customers choose high-efficiency panels from trusted manufacturers, including our own premium range at 1KOMMA5°.
While you might find cheaper 8kW systems on the market, these usually include low or mid-range panels—often imported from China with little to no after-sales support. For a larger residential system, it’s crucial to prioritise long-term reliability, performance, and durability. Spending a little more upfront can result in much greater savings and peace of mind over the life of your system.
Our customers love that 1KOMMA5° systems come with full-service warranties and dedicated technical support. If anything goes wrong, we’ll fix it—no stress. In fact, not a single 1KOMMA5° customer in over 10 years has ever needed to remove one of our systems due to performance issues.
An 8kW system can save you up to $2,500 a year on your electricity bills. To achieve savings of around $600 per quarter, your household would need to use a fair amount of energy during the day—roughly 35kWh daily in summer.
8kW Solar System with Battery Cost
An 8kW solar system with battery storage will often be enough to eliminate a household’s power bills. This will be the right-sized system if your daily power usage (24 hours) is around 30kWh and up to around 40kWh in the summer.
A 13.5kWh battery storage is approximately $20,250, fully installed. Expect to pay a little extra if you have 3-phase power. This includes installation and connection to the solar system. Solar Victoria offers up to $8,800 battery storage interest-free loan to eligible holders. You can apply for this loan even if you've already received the $1,400 solar panel rebate and interest-free loan.
It is worth noting that upgrading the solar system to a 10kW array costs little more because of the larger Federal Government Rebate on a larger system. We can help you compare the prices and potential benefits on a 15-minute discovery call.
The Output of an 8kW Solar System in Melbourne
According to the Clean Energy Council guidelines, an 8kW solar system in Melbourne facing north will produce an average of 29 kWh a day, outputting more power in summer and less in winter.
Typically the peak output of an 8kW solar system will be around 6-7kWh during the middle of the day, and it will vary depending on the weather. This is a good example of output across the day with a system of this size when there is patchy shade from clouds:
We have found that this guideline of 29kWh from the Clean Energy Council is a conservative estimate and that by using the top brands you can get considerably more out of a system.
For example, our Enphase systems give our customers on average 110% of expected output. On an average day in summer, an 8kW system will often give our customers over 40 kWh of power. If this ends up being too much power for a household, we recommend considering battery storage so that any excess solar power can then be used during the evening.
An 8kW Solar System – The Key Numbers
| 8kW Solar System | |
|---|---|
| Number of Panels | 18 x 450W Panels |
| Output | 29kWh a day average |
| Potential Savings | $600 a quarter depending on your cost of power |
| 8kW System Cost | From $9,600 before rebates |
| 8kW System with Battery Storage | A 13.5kWh battery storage starts from $20,250. Further rebates are available. Ask us for more information. |
| Repayments | $194 per month for solar only. * |
| Suited to | Medium to large homes using on average around 30kWh a day during the daytime (or over 24 hours with battery storage) |
* Repayment numbers can vary depending on a number of factors and are an estimate based on a 5-year term. 3-to-7 year terms are available.
How Much Will an 8kW Solar System Save Me?
The potential savings of an 8kW solar system depend on how much solar power you are able to use in the home at the time of generation.
You will typically save around 22 to 28 cents a kWh + GST (depending on how much you pay for your power) for every kWh of solar power used in the home.
Depending on your retailer, you will be paid a feed-in tariff of around 5-12 cents a kWh for the power you send back to the grid.
Based on this, an 8kW solar system can save you up to around $600 per quarterly bill.
More information about how solar power can save you money is available here: How Solar Power Reduces Your Power Bill
Number of Solar Panels for an 8kW System
The larger the system, the more important it is to buy quality panels to ensure you maximise reliability, increased output in all weather conditions and the longevity of the system.
The other consideration is roof space. By installing high-efficiency panels, we can use 18 x 450W panels instead of the older 300W panels.
8kW Microinverter System
1KOMMA5° is the largest and most experienced installer of Enphase Microinverter systems in Australia, 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 an array across different orientations and at different angles. A common panel layout is to have some panels facing north, and the others west to spread the output of solar power across the day, making it easier to use more of the solar power as it is generated.
On larger residential systems, the panels in the middle of the array can get quite hot during summer as airflow under the panels is less than ideal. When panels get too hot, the output can be significantly reduced. Because of this, we recommend using microinverter technology and in fact, over 80% of our customers now decide to install this technology.
Find out all you need to know about Enphase: 10 key benefits of microinverter systems.
Request a callback today for more information and personalised pricing.
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