Solar Panel Rebate
The development of Australia’s renewable energy future is currently being assisted by a number of government initiatives. These include:
- Amendments to the renewable energy target which mandate 20% of electricity is to be supplied by renewable energy by 2020;
- Environmental provisions of the Economic Stimulus Package (specifically the Energy Efficient Homes Package to improve insulation and install solar hot water systems in existing houses);
- Interest-free Green Loans;
- Solar Flagships Program;
- Renewable Energy Development Fund; and
- Renewable Remote Power Generation Program.
Additional state government initiatives include rebates for the installation of solar panels, and the provision of feed-in tariffs to assist the growth of renewable energies and energy savings. Take advantage of the generous government incentives and rebates when buying your Solar Panel System. There are two types of rebates offered that you can take advantage of when purchasing a Solar Power System:
- Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) Trading Rebate
- Feed-in Tariffs
REC Trading Rebate
Initiated by the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000; RECs are available when you buy qualifying solar panels. You receive cash back on your purchases by selling the RECs or using them as a point of sale discount from your supplier.
One REC is equivalent to one megawatt hour of electricity generation. A renewable energy certificate can be traded for cash and the value of these certificates fluctuates according to market conditions. Basically, a REC is a form of renewable energy currency and through Solarbream; you can sell your RECs to us and use the money as a point of sale discount on items you buy!
In very simple terms the REC is like getting an upfront discount when you are buying a property. Sort of like the first home buyers grant. This grant is called the REC trading rebate and the way it works is that you save (depending on where you live) a bundle of money on the initial capital outlay, just like the first home buyers grant. Think of it like a first solar system grant and that is quite accurate as you can only get this grant once, just like a first home buyers grant. In some cases this can be $4,500-$5,500. The way that this discount has been structured means that you get the biggest rebate for a 1.5 kw system.
Here are some quick examples of typical discounts:
- For a 1.5 kw you might get a discount of $4,500
- For a 2 kw you might get a discount of $5,000
- For a 2.5 kw you might get a discount of $5,500
Feed – In Tariffs
This rebate is equivalent to an ongoing cash flow incentive where the government buys back the energy you generate from your solar panels at a 2 – 3 times higher rate of its actual value. At the present time there is no nationalised scheme for this rebate so here is a glance of each state’s arrangement:
It is important to note that some states like NSW pay feed in tariffs for all energy generated from your solar system, whereas VIC only pay feed in tariffs on the net value fed back into the grid.
In simple terms this incentive is like getting an ongoing cash flow on an investment property. Imagine the government turned around and said to you, when you buy that investment property we will pay you 3 times the rent that your tenant pays you too help you with this investment…. this is pretty much what is happening here with the Feed in Tariffs. The way these work is that the government has said for every unit of energy you make we will pay you two to three times the actual value.
