Australia’s Enhanced Renewable Energy Target (eRET) legislation passed last week offers greatly increased financial incentives for people installing off grid solar power systems.
While grid connect solar power has been receiving ongoing substantial government rebate and grant support for some years, the situation for off grid solar installations has been less generous. Up until last week, the only incentives available for most Australians wanting to install remote power systems were the standard level of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) accompanying equipment such as solar panels.
According to information provided by the Clean Energy Council; from July 1, households and businesses installing systems more than a kilometre from the mains power grid or who have evidence that it would cost in excess of $30,000 to connect to the grid will be eligible to receive the Solar Credits multiplier for the first 20kW of their system installed. Currently the Solar Credits multiplier is a factor of five, so the savings are substantial; running into tens of thousands of dollars for systems rated at the maximum level.
After such a long drought in terms of substantial off grid solar rebates, the news will be welcome to many; but interested parties will need to be quick as the new incentive is only available for the first 250,000 Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in each financial year for the next 2 years, then ramping down for the following 3 financial years. 250,000 Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) is the equivalent of 2MW of off-grid installed each financial year.
