Energy Trading Explained: How Your Solar System Can Make You Money

We’ve been getting so many questions lately about energy trading and how it can benefit homeowners. After hosting several fully booked info nights, we thought we’d put together a quick explainer here to help get you started. Whether you already have solar and a battery or you’re just beginning to explore your options, this guide will walk you through how energy trading works, how it can save or earn you money, and why it’s changing the way we power our homes.

If you have solar panels on your roof and a home battery, you’re already saving on your power bills but did you know you could actually be making money too? Energy trading allows households to sell the energy they generate back to the grid when demand and prices are high. Instead of just receiving a standard feed-in tariff, you can participate in the real-time energy market, where prices can spike significantly during events like during heatwaves or supply shortages. This means your home system isn’t just producing clean energy it can become a mini power station that earns you real returns.

Energy trading works particularly well when paired with a battery. During the day, your solar system charges your battery with any excess energy. Then, instead of simply using it at night, your battery can dispatch energy back to the grid when it’s most valuable. This process can happen automatically when you’re part of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), a smart network of homes with solar and batteries that work together to stabilise the grid. By joining a VPP, your system becomes part of a larger energy-sharing community, and you get rewarded for supporting the grid when it needs it most.

To help make this more accessible, the Australian Government implemented new incentives to reduce the upfront cost of solar and battery systems. Most homeowners in NSW can access the federal Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC) rebate, which applies to rooftop solar and can save you thousands on installation costs. More recently, from 1 July 2025, the federal government’s new Cheaper Home Batteries Program offers an upfront discount of approximately $360 per usable kilowatt hour on eligible battery systems, roughly a 30 percent discount capped at the first 50 kilowatt hours of capacity. For example, a 10kWh battery could receive up to $3,600 off installation costs. This rebate applies only to battery systems installed alongside solar, must be VPP capable if grid connected, and is available once per property. There is also a further $500-$1400 rebate available if you do choose to connect your battery to a VPP.

With the right setup solar panels, a battery, and access to the energy market homeowners can save anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 per year depending on household energy use and system size. In some cases, especially during times of high demand, homes can even earn more from exporting energy than they pay for consuming it. It’s a smart way to not only reduce your bills but also future proof your home against rising electricity costs.

At our place, we use Amber Smart Shift, a retailer that gives customers direct access to wholesale electricity prices. This means our battery charges from both solar and when energy is cheap and exports back to the grid when prices spike which happens all automatically. Amber’s model has helped us get more value from our solar and battery system, and we love knowing we’re part of a cleaner, more responsive grid. It’s a set and forget setup that quietly works in the background while helping reduce our footprint and boost our savings.

Energy trading isn’t just for big companies or energy experts anymore it’s something any home with solar and battery storage with the right advice can participate in. Whether you’re just starting out or already have a system installed, connecting your setup to the energy market offers big benefits. If you’re curious about how it works or want help choosing the right system, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned.

Please reach out with any questions or to let us know if you would like to be on the list to find out when our next free info night will be.

David Veal
Owner of Solarpro