The federal governments operates various solar rebates schemes which has continued to change over the past decade behind different government incentive schemes and increased diversity in the panels, inverters and suppliers on the market .The main national solar panel rebates schemes are as follows: Solar Credits: Renewable Energy Certificates/Small-scale Technology Certificates (RECs/STCs) of up to $3,000 for a 1.5kW system
Solar Credits: Renewable Energy Certificates/Small-scale Technology Certificates (RECs/STCs) for 1.5kW to 100kW installations
The price of your solar PV system can also be affected by variables including:
- Government rebates and support schemes (these vary in each state)
- Location
- Number of panels
- Orientation of panels
- Type of panels
- Type of inverter
- System design and configuration
- Shipping costs for equipment and parts
- Contractor installation costs
- Removal of trees or other shading
- Type of roofing (for example, tiled or tin) Height of roof
- Site preparation needs (for example, condition of roof or ground)
- Structural engineering, architectural, and other professional services (for commercial systems)
Feed-In-Tariff
Customers are also rewarded with a feed-in-tariff which pays them for the electricity generated by the solar system. Each state has a different feed-in-tariff and different ways of measuring and paying. Some states pay based on net and some on gross. The difference between gross and net is below.
Net: Pays the customer for any extra energy produced which can be fed back into the National Grid. The customer is paid for all surplus energy that they do not use which can be used by the national Grid.
Gross: The customer gets paid for every kW produced regardless of whether it is used by the customer or not.
The credits earned under the Feed-In Tariff are either credited to your electricity account or paid out to you in the form of a cheque. This occurs quarterly or annually depending on the electricity retailer.