Hunting for the top-notch off-grid inverter, solar panels, batteries, or solar system usually means trawling through reviews by who knows who or quizzing installers, hoping they’re clued in. We hit the web, punching in “BEST” and crossing our fingers for some solid info.

A decade back, the quality of gear like solar panels and inverters was a bit of a worry, but I reckon we’ve well and truly turned the corner on that one. From what I’ve seen, most of the solar kit on the Aussie market these days is pretty decent. The new kid on the block is solar batteries, mainly lithium, and here’s where we’re seeing a bunch of new brands popping up, quality a bit of a question mark.

I wanna give a shoutout to some brands that are nailing it with the bang-for-your-buck ratio:

Solar panels: Jinko, Trina, Santech, Longi

Off-grid savvy solar inverters: Sungrow, Deye, Sigenery, Growatt, Steca, Alfaess

Batteries: Tesla, BYD, Pylontech, Sungrow, Alfaess, Sigenery, LG

Some of these brands are strutting their stuff as top-shelf, others are easy on the wallet, but I haven’t hit any snags installing any of ’em. And yep, looks like China’s leading the charge in the solar game.