What sort of Incentives or Rebates are available for Off-Grid solar?
All solar panel installations in Australia are subsidised by the Federal Government’s STCs incentive (Small-scale Technology Certificates) which offset the cost for your system. There are two ways this incentive can affect the cost for your future Off-Grid system.
1. Under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, small-scale technology certificates are calculated based on system location, installation date, and the potential amount of electricity generated over the course of its lifetime – which is referred to as the deeming period. As the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme will end in 2030, the standard 15 years deeming period for a solar PV system has already started to reduce on 1st January 2017 to 14 years, and each following year, until the closure of the scheme in 2030. This will reduce the number of small-scale technology certificates that can be created for an eligible system. The reduced amount of STCs from 1st January represents a 6% drop. This means that solar panels may become more expensive every year unless prices for solar panels are reduced as well.
2. The value of each STC is based on supply and demand. Consequently, the STC market is from time to time subject to volatility which effects the value of each STC. NOTE: The solar panels, inverters and chargers must be on the Clean Energy Council’s (CEC’s) approved list of Off-Grid solar power systems and the installations must be done by a CEC accredited Off-Grid installer