The cost of retro fitting micro inverters for 24 panels is around the equivalent of buying a new inverter approx $160 per panel but price is coming down, the inverters daisychain so not a big issue as far as cabling is concerned, however new solar panels are coming already fitted with the micro inverter for new installations, the modular batteries should be available in Australia around November 2015, the beauty of these is that you can buy one which will help shave the cost off peak pricing for those on the grid and you can add batteries as you can afford them, with no limit to the number of batteries, they are basically plug and play and you can do it yourself, pricing not available at this time.
This technology of course will allow solar owners to request higher feed in tarriffs for supplying battery power during peak periods if you don't need it all for yourself, it will also make it economically a necessity for smaller and rural communities to reduce power costs from the highly subsidized power they currently receive on grid or get from diesel or gas generators and enable utility companies to sell off micro grids to communities rather than having to maintain expensive poles and wires to smaller communities, although considering the cost they might do better to just divest themselves of the poles and wires for $00.00.
