New South Wales solar incentives and feed-in tariffs 2021
Are you a NSW homeowner looking for solar? We’ve collated the solar incentives available in 2021 to help you make the switch!
Are you a NSW homeowner looking for solar? We’ve collated the solar incentives available in 2021 to help you make the switch!
Are you a homeowner looking for solar? Below we’ve detailed the New South Wales solar incentives available in 2021.
Homeowners in New South Wales are charged an average electricity tariff of 30.65 cents/kWh, according to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) and prices reach up to 55 cents/kWh during peak hours. However, expensive electricity makes solar even more valuable, with a higher savings opportunity.
Currently, the SRES is the only program that offers New South Wales solar incentives. However, this incentive alone reduces the net cost of solar installations by around 33%. Solar installations with up to 100 kW of capacity are eligible, which also makes the incentive useful for commercial properties.
The SRES does not offer incentives directly, and instead it awards Small-scale Technology Certificates (STC). The calculation is based on the expected electricity production between the installation year and 2030, with one STC awarded for every 1,000 kWh of estimated production.
Example STC scenario:
Since inland areas get more sunshine than coastal regions of NSW, systems here also qualify for more STCs. For example, a 5-kW installation in the mining town of Broken Hill gets 76 STCs, equivalent to $2,888 at $38 per STC with the incentive per kilowatt increasing from $532 to $578.
Remember, a solar system is only eligible for STCs if installed by a Clean Energy Council Accredited Installer like Instyle Solar. The solar panels and inverters must also be in the CEC approved list, and the installation must comply with Australian and New Zealand codes.
If you need further information about the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, please visit the Australian Government Clean Energy Regulator website.
Other Incentive Programs
The NSW government offers two local incentive programs for solar power, which complement the STC incentive:
Empowering Homes program
The Empowering Homes program offers interest-free loans of up to $14,000 for new solar systems with batteries, and up to $9,000 for adding batteries to existing solar installations. Loans for combined systems are repayable in eight years, while loans for battery retrofits are repayable in 10 years. These loans are available for households with a yearly income of up to $180,000. The owner must live in the property where the loan is used, which must be connected to the grid.
As of 2021, loans from the Empowering Homes program are available for certain postcodes in the following locations: Bathurst, Blayney, City of Blue Mountains, Cabonne, City of Central Coast, City of Cessnock, Dungog, City of Hawkesbury, Kempsey, City of Lake Macquarie, City of Lithgow, City of Maitland, Mid-Coast, Mid-Western, Muswellbrook, City of Newcastle, Oberon, City of Orange, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Port Stephens, Singleton, Tamworth, Upper Hunter Shire, and Walcha.
Solar for low income households program
The Solar for low income households program offers free solar systems for qualifying homes. The system capacity is 3 kW, and it will benefit 3,000 homes in Central Coast, North Coast, Sydney-South, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, and South Coast. To be eligible, a home must meet the following conditions:
The program is only available for homes without solar systems. In other words, the free 3-kW installation cannot be used to expand an existing solar array.
Virtual Power Plant
NSW homeowners with solar battery systems can also join a virtual power plant (VPP). A VPP connects many batteries together, coordinating them to act as a single power source. When joining a VPP, the local electricity company is granted access to your home battery, and you are rewarded for the use of that storage capacity. Conditions vary depending on the VPP operator, but you can expect to earn an extra $100 to $200 per year according to the NSW government.
The feed-in tariff (FIT) is the electricity rate paid to you for surplus generation from a solar system. A favorable tariff can be considered a type of solar incentive, since unused generation becomes more valuable for homes and businesses.
NSW does not have a minimum FIT, but the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has established a benchmark of 6.0 to 7.3 cents/kWh. However, local electricity companies offer FITs as high as 22 cents/kWh.
The following example is very simple, but it illustrates how an FIT affects the savings capability of a solar system:
For the latest feed-in tariffs and updates visit: https://wattever.com.au/retailer-solar-feed-in-tariffs-by-state-and-territory/
Learn more via How Solar Works!