Solar Sidekicks Podcast

Pat and Lauren are back on the road, heading into Abbotsford to sit down with Nancy Sanjoto and Arlen East from EcoVantage — although Pat has a few early attempts at remembering exactly where they are and how to pronounce the company name, despite the rather large sign sitting next to him.

Then it’s into the increasingly complicated world of rebates and certificate schemes. STCs, VEECs, ESCs, PRCs, PDRS, battery incentives, commercial solar and the expanded SRES all get a run as Nancy and Arlen explain what can be stacked, what can’t, and why getting the paperwork sorted before the install starts can be worth a hell of a lot of money.

We get into the new NSW battery incentives, what the commercial solar changes could mean for installers and retailers, audits, rogue operators and the amount of responsibility certificate providers carry when something goes wrong. There’s also a cracking example of a 300kW solar job that missed out on an incentive because the call for help came after panels were already on the roof.

Lauren also spots a nice connection between EcoVantage and the Women’s Property Initiative, before Pat and Lauren finish with some industry news — including more fines, the NEOVOLT battery situation and another reminder that compliance is getting pretty serious as more money flows into solar and batteries.

Rebates, compliance, rogue operators and enough acronyms to confuse just about everyone — thankfully Nancy and Arlen actually know what they all mean.

Pat and Lauren are back on schedule and back at Six Star Plus, this time joined by Meagan “Meggsy” Blackney — the Heat Pump Legend.

Meggsy’s path into the industry is a good one. She went from eight years at Baby Bunting, to starting in accounts at Six Star Plus, to somehow finding herself right in the middle of the heat pump world — dealing with builders, plumbers, suppliers and plenty of tradie personalities along the way.

We get into how heat pumps fit into the electrification push, why some plumbers are still hanging onto gas, the challenges builders face when the rules change, rebates, new builds and the surprisingly difficult job of getting a bloody great hot-water unit across a muddy building site. There’s also a healthy rivalry between the heat pump and PV sides of the Six Star Plus office — and neither side is particularly interested in giving the other one too much credit.

Then it’s back into solar industry news. SAA’s new fee for multiple-system sign-off exemptions gets Pat and Lauren fired up, particularly around medium-density and new-build solar. They also look at a recent $40,000 WorkSafe fine involving an apprentice working on a roof without fall protection, and compare it with the LEI prosecution discussed last episode.

Along the way we hear about Meagan’s Baby Bunting days, her ability to win over a room full of builders and plumbers, a slightly embarrassing dehydration incident, rooftop heat pumps, Pat’s questionable thoughts about an old hot-water rebate and another rapid-fire segment that gets inappropriate remarkably quickly.

Heat pumps, hot water, solar compliance, builders, plumbers and plenty of shit-stirring. Just another Friday at Six Star Plus.

This week we’ve headed north to Castlemaine to sit down with Matt Wilson from Central Spark Victoria — and apparently Lauren thought activewear and shorts were appropriate for a chilly Central Victorian morning.

Matt’s been around solar since the days of tiny BP panels, $8,000 rebates, Sharp 167s and smashing out two installs a day. We go right back through his apprenticeship on a questionable $7.60 an hour, the early days of commercial solar at Enviro Group, managing projects he probably wasn’t old enough to be managing, and eventually setting up Central Spark Victoria.

There’s a big chat about off-grid too — why Matt reckons you can’t do it half-arsed, why he still backs transformer-based gear, what happens when an off-grid system dies on a Saturday, and why selling someone a system also means signing yourself up to look after the bloody thing.

We also get into apprentices, subbies, inspectors getting fined for inspections they allegedly didn’t attend, paperwork, backstop, Solar Victoria, the upcoming Victorian election and why being a good Sparky these days involves a hell of a lot more than knowing how to connect wires.

Plus, a truck in a septic tank, dodgy apprentice wages, Castlemaine history, Pat finding out he has another half-sister two days before recording, and the most important apprentice rule of all: never get off the roof empty-handed.

A cracking chat with someone who’s seen the industry grow from six-panel systems to what it is today — and still genuinely loves the shit out of it.

Pat & Loz are on the road again — this week recording from the brand new Jet Solar HQ on Wellington Road, Rowville. And yes, the signwriting is real.

Jason Dickinson has been quietly running one of the best solar businesses in Melbourne for seven years, and this episode is a good insight into how he's done it. From driving forklifts in Dandenong at 18, to a residential apprenticeship, subbing for a mate at 60 bucks an hour, and eventually going out on his own — Jason's got a pretty honest take on what it takes to build something worth being proud of.

We get into his three non-negotiables for running a quality solar business, how he's building a team through local footy club sponsorships, why he's stuck to just four battery brands and why he thinks that's actually a competitive advantage, and what the new commercial STC changes might mean for businesses like his — and yours.

Also in this episode — the AusNet backstop update (Erin from Jet Solar has been doing serious work in the industry reference group), a chat about the upcoming CER battery audits and what that might look like for the industry, and a frank discussion about product selection and why selling everything under the sun creates more problems than it solves.

Plus a rapid-fire Q&A at the end, a tuna and rice cracker story, and a gel seat cushion that travels on aeroplanes.

Good one.

After a month off, Pat and Lauren are back for a proper Solar Sidekicks industry catch-up — and there’s plenty to talk about.

First up, they wrap up the first year of the Southwell Solar Installer Nights, from the huge Melbourne opener through to a particularly loose finish in Southern Sydney. They talk about what they learnt travelling around the country, why installers are crying out for practical training, and why sometimes the best conversations happen once the presentations are finished and the beers are flowing.

Then there’s some massive news for commercial solar. The STC scheme is being extended all the way up to 1 MW, and Pat and Lauren get into what that could mean for commercial installers, switchboards, grid protection, maintenance, compliance — and the inevitable rebate rush.

And then… Growatt.

An alleged attempt to bribe a CEC employee over a product listing gives Pat and Lauren plenty to work with. There are jokes, hypothetical cups of tea and some questionable suggestions about speeding up product approvals — but underneath the banter is a serious discussion about how long product listings can take and the pressure that puts on manufacturers.

They finish with some good news from Solar Victoria, including training opportunities and free hearing tests at All Energy. If you’re heading along and want to book one, you can grab a spot here:

Book a free hearing test at All Energy

https://events.humanitix.com/free-hearing-tests

No guest. No real plan. Just Pat and Lauren catching up after a month off, coming out the other side of winter and talking through another slightly ridiculous few weeks in solar.

Installer Nights, megawatt STCs, alleged bribes and a bit of industry therapy. Solar Sidekicks is back.

Pat & Loz are back in the studio — this time at the new Six Star Plus office in Dandenong South — and they're joined by Nicole Stegmann from Energy Matters.

Nicole's got one of the more colourful backstories we've had on the show — from working at Foodstar (yes, the all-you-can-eat restaurant), teaching English in Japan, fielding conspiracy theory voicemails for the Department of Climate Change, to now running pretty much everything at Energy Matters — video, photography, blogs, social media, and the website (all 70,000 pages of it).
We get into some good topics: the "interest-free solar" conversation and why it's not always what it seems, Nicole's experience putting solar and a battery on a rental property (and what happened two days after the battery went in), and where she thinks the industry is heading — spoiler, she's got her eye on heat pumps.

Also in this episode — AusNet backstop update (genuinely good news for once), the new dedicated installer line going live, the Ausgrid/CCEW portal integration in NSW, the upcoming NSW rebate reboot under PDRS, and a reminder to look after yourself heading into what's shaping up to be a hectic back half of the year.
A loose, fun episode with plenty of tangents — but plenty of substance too.

Catch us at an Installer Night:
    •    Gold Coast – 21 July (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/gold-coast-installer-night-tickets-1989799349418)
    •    Brisbane – 22 July (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/brisbane-installer-night-tickets-1989800024437)
    •    Western Sydney – 4 August (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/western-sydney-installer-night-tickets-1990093188298)
    •    Southern Sydney – 5 August (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/southern-sydney-installer-night-tickets-1990094178259)

Pat & Loz are back!!! After a bit of a break (Sydney, then life got busy), the mics are hot again — and we're kicking things off with a big one.

This week on Solar Sidekicks, Pat and Loz are joined by Brendan Laidlaw from CEP Energy for a ripper chat covering everything from his early days as a "data fairy" apprentice and the wild TVS install era, through to smart metering, a factory fire that nearly ended his business, a stint as a solar trainer, and how he eventually landed in commercial battery energy trading.

The back half gets properly technical: switchboard certification headaches under 61439, summation of supplies on commercial boards, why Jemena's SCADA requirements are a nightmare to navigate, and the never-ending backstop/AusNet saga.

Also in this episode — a recap of Perth Installer Night (including WA's full-on regulator scare campaign), and the new mandatory CCEW process landing in NSW from 1 July.

A proper deep dive with one of commercial solar's most experienced operators — technical, funny, and packed with war stories.

🎟️ Catch us at an Installer Night:
    •    Gold Coast – 21 July (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/gold-coast-installer-night-tickets-1989799349418)
    •    Brisbane – 22 July (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/brisbane-installer-night-tickets-1989800024437)
    •    Western Sydney – 4 August (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/western-sydney-installer-night-tickets-1990093188298)
    •    Southern Sydney – 5 August (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/southern-sydney-installer-night-tickets-1990094178259)

Recorded at the Smart Energy Conference in Sydney, this episode features the brilliant Tiarna Hodge from iStore.

Self-described as the industry’s Wednesday Addams, Tiarna takes us through a 14-year solar career that started as a receptionist at 17 and somehow led to becoming the person installers call when everything has gone sideways. From batteries and DNSPs to strange faults and stressed-out tradies, if it becomes a problem, chances are it ends up on Tiarna’s desk.

We talk about the WA battery rush, what installers are getting right and wrong, the pressure of the rebate period, and why good tech support is about a lot more than just knowing the product.

Along the way there are plenty of laughs, some seriously nerdy technical chats, iStore-blue nails, sparkly backup boxes, rebate wrinkles, Botox jokes, and a discussion about the Smart Energy Council Emerging Leader Award nomination that Tiarna insists she wants absolutely nothing to do with.

She’s an absolute weapon, does God’s work for installers around the country, and this was an easy conversation. A ripper episode.

Recorded at the Smart Energy Conference in Sydney, this episode kicks off a full day of podcasting from the Solar Sidekicks booth.

Pat and Lauren sit down with Kat and Richard from GreenSketch to chat about solar quoting, homeowner education, installer support, AI, and how the industry can make the sales and design process a whole lot smoother.

We get into GreenSketch’s AI tool, Emily, which helps homeowners see solar and battery options for their own roof, while also helping installers save time, reduce paperwork, and create better proposals.

There’s plenty in this one about batteries, compliance, bollards, quoting tools, STCs, GreenDeal, One Stop Warehouse, and why installers still hate paperwork.

A really interesting chat about where solar sales, design, and software are heading next.

GreenSketch:

https://greensketch.ai

Recorded live at the Solar Cutters networking event in Sydney before Smart Energy Conference, this episode is absolute chaos from the very start.

Pat can’t hear the intro music, Jo accidentally jumps on the mic and does the opening intro herself, and Lauren spends half the episode disappearing to chase down her lost luggage.

What follows is completely loose.

Unhinged conversations, industry banter, battery rebate chat, EV charging, burnout, installer gossip bordering on “should this be recorded?”, tequila, and way too many solar industry people around one table.

Featuring people from FranklinWH, Positive Energy, EVNEX, Percy Solar, MC Electrical, NRG, Supply Partners, Smart Energy Council, iStore and more.

There’s also a couple of genuinely touching moments amongst the madness that probably caught all of us off guard.

Fun fact: this was actually recorded before another episode we already released… which honestly feels very on brand for this podcast lately.

Was this format a good idea? Unclear.

Will rusted-on solar industry people absolutely love it? Most likely.