Last week, Tesla announced Australian pre-orders for its solar roof, with installations starting in 2018. The idea is fantastic - replace your house roof with solar tiles that look good, generate power and are even more durable than existing options. But in the real world, is it worth the price? We crunch the numbers to find out.

In sunny Australia, household rooftop solar can be a great way to generate some of your own power, and potentially save money off your electrical bill. Thanks to recent technology improvements and price reductions, home battery storage makes it possible to store the sun’s energy and use it again at night. But as more and more players enter the market, which option is right for you?

Thanks to Natural Solar and the Pfitzner family, we now have real-world usage figures from a solar panel setup and Powerwall combination system. While promising, the announcement was a little light on in details, so we got a hold of the full figures and did a number crunching analysis of the results. So is the setup worth it?

After having been announced last September and slated for release before the end of 2015, the first shipment of Tesla Powerwalls to our shores is a touch delayed, but is finally here. The first Powerwalls have now been installed in Sydney's Hills District.

Back in May, 2015, we crunched the payback figures for the Powerwall, based on an assumed Australian cost and example electricity prices. Now there are local installed costs available, we have broken out the calculator and gone over the figures. The question is, can the Powerwall give a decent payback time?