Solar Electricity Government Rebates

Currently, incentives for installing and generating solar electricity come from two sources, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or Solar Credit Scheme and feed-in tariffs:

1. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) created from solar electricity installations vary according to the size of the system package chosen. Chromagen will assist you with the completion of the REC assignment form which can be claimed upon the completion of the solar installation.

1a. Solar Credits
The Solar Credit scheme was established in June 2009 for the purpose of providing homes, small businesses and other eligible premises an incentive for installing solar electricity systems (in the absence of the $8000 photovoltaic rebate program that was discontinued in June 2009).

The Solar Credit scheme falls under the umbrella of the Expanded Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET). This scheme gives the owners of solar electricity systems the right to create five times as many Renewable Energy Certificates (REC’s) as the solar electricity system would normally be eligible for. Eligible owners will receive five times as many REC’s up to the first 1.5kW. For systems 1.5kW and above, the normal REC calculation will apply. The five times calculation will need to be added to the normal REC calculation in order to obtain the total number of REC’s eligible for the solar installation. For example, if a 2kW system was installed, the first 1.5kW would receive five times REC’s and the other .5kW would receive the normal REC’s (no multiplier).

The solar credit scheme is regulated by the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator (ORER) and will be administered in the same way to the current REC scheme.

To find out if you are eligible for the solar credits, please go to:
REC – definition of eligible premises – page 7 of 22

To find out to how many RECs you are entitled go to:
REC tables of postcodes and zones – page 18 of 22

2. Feed-in Tariffs

Feed-in Tariffs vary from state to state within Australia. Please see the rates for each state at this page on the Clean Energy Council web-site. Feed-in tariffs – national summary

Feed-in tariff rates by company

Net and gross feed-in tariffs: Gross feed-in tariffs are currently available in NSW and the ACT. This means that eligible customers receive a premium tariff for all electricity they generate. Net feed-in tariffs are currently available in Qld, SA and Vic. This means that customers are paid a premium tariff for any half-hour period during the day, in which their exported energy is greater than their imported energy. This usually occurs around the middle of the day when the sun is highest and household consumption is lowest.

Interested in finding out more?