Insights | Energy Knowledge Centre
Energy, explained by engineers.
Substantive, technically accurate guides written by the Esena energy team, dated, reviewed, and linked to the calculator that lets you run your own numbers.
Batteries | Featured guide
How to size a home battery in 2026
Battery sizing is often reduced to a single number on a brochure. The better approach starts with your load profile, not the biggest box available.
8 min read · Reviewed August 2026
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Batteries
AC vs DC coupling: which battery architecture suits your home
The AC vs DC coupling question sounds technical, but it has real consequences for efficiency, retrofit cost and future flexibility.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Incentives
The federal battery incentive, explained
The federal battery incentive is applied at point of sale by your installer, not claimed as a rebate afterwards. Here's how the mechanism works.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Incentives
NSW PDRS battery incentives: what BESS means for residential properties and commercial
NSW runs its own certificate-based incentive scheme for batteries, alongside the federal program, with distinct pathways for households and commercial clients.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Incentives
Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU): how the program works
Victoria's longest-running energy efficiency scheme underpins many of the state's heat pump and air conditioning upgrade offers. Here's the mechanism behind it.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Batteries
Virtual power plants: what they pay, what they ask
A VPP arrangement is a genuine trade: participation incentives in exchange for allowing your battery to be called on. Read the mechanics before signing.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Solar
Single-phase vs three-phase power: what it means for solar and batteries
Phase configuration is a background detail most homeowners never think about, until it starts limiting solar or battery options.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Commercial
Demand charges: the hidden line item on commercial power bills
For many commercial customers, the single highest half-hour of demand in a billing period can drive a disproportionate share of the total bill.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Electrification
Heat pump hot water: why it uses a fraction of the energy
Heat pump hot water systems don't generate heat the way an electric element does, they move it, and that distinction is why they're so efficient.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Solar
Solar export limits in SA, VIC and NSW, and how to design around them
Export limits are set by your local network distributor, not your solar installer, and understanding them changes how a system should be designed.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Batteries
Is a home battery worth it in South Australia?
SA's solar-saturated grid changes the battery value equation in ways that don't apply everywhere else in the country.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Batteries
Is a home battery worth it in Victoria?
Victoria's cold, cloudy winters and patchwork of five electricity distributors mean battery value looks different depending on where you live.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Batteries
Is a home battery worth it in NSW?
NSW's tariff diversity means two neighbouring households can see very different battery outcomes, interval data matters more here than almost anywhere.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Electrification
Air conditioning running costs and how to cut them
The biggest driver of air conditioning running costs usually isn't the unit on the wall, it's sizing, zoning and how well the building holds temperature.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Electrification
Replacing gas hot water with a heat pump
Heat pump hot water is usually the first electrification step engineers recommend. Here's what the swap actually involves.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026
Commercial
How much solar can a commercial roof support?
The panel layout is rarely the constraint on a commercial solar system, structural capacity, shading and network export approval usually are.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Commercial
A strata committee's guide to solar and batteries
Strata solar and battery projects raise questions standalone residential properties never face, common property metering, embedded networks and by-law approval.
8 min · Reviewed August 2026
Electrification
Choosing an EV charger for your home
The right home EV charger is less about brand and more about your power supply, switchboard capacity and whether you want it to work with solar.
7 min · Reviewed August 2026