Financial assistance with installing a solar PV system is available to Queensland residents and businesses through Federal Government schemes that assist by providing an upfront discount on the purchase price of your renewable energy system and provide payments for any excess electricity that your solar system feeds back into the grid.
In Queensland, the State Government also provide a number of independent government initiatives designed specifically for those wanting to invest in a solar or renewable energy system.
Below is an overview of some of the government solar rebates that are currently available to residents and businesses in Queensland.
Credits for excess power: In Queensland you will receive a credit on your electricity bill for any unused solar power that is generated by your system and sent back to the grid. This is called a Feed-in Tariff (FiT). Those located in Southeast Queensland, such as the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast, have a feed-in tariff set by the Queensland Competition Authority. Your feed-in tariff will vary dependent on the rate offered by your energy retailer. Current feed-in tariffs range from 7.0 cents per kilowatt hour to 16.0 cents per kilowatt hour. You can visit the Australian Energy Regulator’s Energy Made Easy website to find out what feed-in tariffs electricity retailers are currently offering in Queensland.
If you live in regional Queensland, you can obtain a fixed feed-in tariff that is set at a buyback rate of 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour.
Certain Queensland residents may be under the Solar Bonus Scheme, which offers a 44-cent feed-in tariff. Those currently receiving this tariff will continue to receive this rate until its expiry date on 1 July 2028. This rate is not available to new customers.
The greatest benefit that your solar system will give you however is not from your credits for excess power, but rather by offsetting your daytime electricity consumption. For every unit of electricity your solar power system produces and that you consume at the premise saves you from having to purchase that unit from your electricity retailer.
Reduction in purchase price: When you install a solar system on your Queensland home, you generate Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs), which are sometimes referred to as a ‘Government Solar Rebate’. You’ll receive 1 STC for every Megawatt of energy your system is expected to produce until 2031.
For example, a 5kW system (approx 17 panels) will produce around 88MWh worth of electricity over the 11-year period until 2031, meaning you are entitled to 88 STCs.
Once your system has been installed and the STCs have been registered, they can be sold to recover a portion of the cost of purchasing your solar PV system. Given the complexity surrounding creating and selling STCs, it’s common practice to assign the right to create the STCs to your QLD solar provider, in exchange for an upfront discount off the full, or ‘true’, system price.
STCs currently trade for around $37 each, which means you’d receive around $3,250 discount off the full, or ‘true’, cost of a 5kW system.
Infinite Energy will quote a price to you that is inclusive of the STC discount. This is the final price of your system. STC’s reduce every year on the 1st of January (and will do so until they are completely phased out), so it’s best to avoid holding off installing your system to acquire the maximum amount.
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