Victorian Solar For Business Rebate Update

Solar Victoria seems pretty pleased with response to its Solar for Business rebate (subsidy) program.

While called a rebate, it’s actually an up-front subsidy covering 50 per cent of the cost of installing a rooftop solar system up to a maximum subsidy value of $3,500 currently.

The incentive is available to owners of businesses operating from non-residential, individually metered premises that employ at least one person other than the owner, and less than 20 people. As well as businesses that own their premises, those that lease are eligible to apply if they provide a completed Landlord and Tenant Consent Form.

Originally announced in March, applications for the program opened in late May.

“In just two months, 711 applications have been submitted, with 559 of those approved so far (as at 26 July),” stated Solar Victoria in an update last week. “We’ve also seen a whopping 234 installations completed – all helping bring down energy bills for small businesses.”

Payback on small commercial solar can be very rapid in Victoria. For example, depending on installation scenario and electricity consumption profile, a 10kW system installed in Melbourne can have a simple payback of just 3 years, 4 months. You can use SQ’s solar calculator to get a payback estimation for your circumstances and various system sizes – just remember to subtract the subsidy (whatever it would be) from the system price field.

Business keen to get a slice of the subsidy action should bear in mind the maximum value of the rebate will remain at $3,500 until all 5,000 subsidies in this phase have been fully allocated. After that point the maximum value will be reduced by half to $1,750.

Further information is available here.

Solar Homes Program Statistics.

The Solar for Business subsidy is just one of the incentives on offer from the Victorian Government  under the Solar Homes program in addition to the national “solar rebate“. There’s also:

• Up to $1,400 on solar power systems (residential – owner-occupier/landlord)
• Up to $3,500 subsidy for home battery storage (residential)
• Up to $1,000 on solar hot water systems.
• $3000 for eligible new zero emissions vehicles

According to Solar Victoria, there were 18,643 applications across all rebate streams in June;  7,500 more than the previous highest performing month.

Across the 2020-21 financial year, 94,276 applications were started, 64,576 were approved and 54,975 systems were installed. Overall, 64,000 systems were installed under the Solar Homes Program by 752 retailers in 2020-21.

While Victoria’s solar panel rebate for owner-occupiers and rental properties was reduced by $1,850 to a maximum $1,400 from the beginning of last month, uptake still appears brisk.

That Victoria’s $1.3 billion scheme has been popular, particularly the home solar power stream, isn’t in doubt. But what has been called into question is whether it was necessary in the first place.

On a related note, you can track prices of systems in Victoria and across Australia using SQ’s Solar Price Index – it’s updated in real-time. It’s interesting that even with Victoria’s generous support, the tool indicates the state doesn’t have the cheapest prices in Australia on a per-watt basis. That distinction goes to Western Australia.