Queensland is nicknamed “The Sunshine State” and it’s not an ironic moniker as the state has, on average, 7.38 hours of sunlight each day. This is compared to 6.38 hours in New South Wales and 5.41 hours in Victoria.
In total, QLD gets just shy of 2,800 hours of sunlight each year, although not all of it is the white light needed for the best power generation. So here’s how solar rebates work in Queensland.
The sun always shines on Queensland’s panels
The sheer amount of sunlight that the state gets is one of the main reasons for QLD residents adopting solar power so enthusiastically. More than one third of the state’s homes already have arrays on their roofs and this proportion is only going to grow in the coming years. Brisbane residential solar uptake, for example, is already over 50% in some areas.
Sunlight is free, which offers a huge incentive to go solar, but there are also various state government rebates which make the decision even easier for Queenslanders.
Queensland has two main solar rebates – the state government’s Solar Feed-in Tariff and the Small-scale Technology Certificates. If you’re about to go solar and you’re wondering how these schemes work, we’ve got the answers right here for you.
The Queensland government’s solar Feed-in Tariffs
If your solar array is generating more power than you’re using, you can export this electricity to the grids so that it can be distributed across the power networks. You’re rewarded for your contributions by the various feed-in tariffs from your energy provider.
There’s no strict market rate, but to attract customers, providers offer competitive tariffs and generally these FiTs are around market value. These feed-ins are deducted from your bill by your provider.
In the more rural areas, you’ll have the regional FiT, which is paid at a flat rate by the providers Ergon Energy Retail and Origin Energy. You do have to meet various conditions in order to qualify for the regional FiTs.
Before these FiTs, the QLD government offered the Solar Bonus Scheme FiT which paid $0.44 per kW/h, but this ended in July 2018 for new customers. Existing customers on the scheme will, as long as they maintain their eligibility, keep their rates until July 1, 2028.
Queensland’s Small-scale Technology Certificates
Small-scale Technology Certificates, or STCs, are certificates that you can trade, buy or purchase as they assign the rights to a particular asset or product. STCs are also available for solar power and the federal government issues them in the form of rebates. You can receive these rebates when you install solar energy systems in your home, which saves you money on them. In this way, STCs are a big incentive for people to go solar.
These STCs vary in value and the number that you can receive for installing a new solar system or solar hot water system will vary as well, according to the area of QLD you’re living in. The Clean Energy Regulator has devised a handy calculator to help you to work out how much you’d receive in STC rebates when you install a solar power or water system on your property.
