What Rebates Apply?

Solar Credits are part of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) legislation, passed by parliament on August 20, 2009. The RET is designed to deliver on the Government's commitment to ensure that 20% of Australia's electricity supply is from renewable sources by 2020. Solar credits are available to households, businesses and community groups for eligible small scale renewable energy systems including rooftop solar panels.

Through solar credits, households or businesses installing a solar power system receive five times as many Renewable Energy Certificates (RECS) for each megawatt-hour of electricity produced by their solar panels. Solar credits apply to the first 1.5 kW of capacity installed. System capacity above 1.5 kW is still eligible for the standard 1:1 rate of REC creation.
Sustainable Man will deduct the value of the REC's from the total price of your new solar panel system and offer it to you as a discounted net price. The REC's are then assigned to Sustainable Man upon installation of the system.

The Solar Credits Scheme is available to virtually anybody who installs a solar power system - home owners, renters, businesses, community groups, without the means test and other restrictions that applied under the old rebate scheme. This includes all houses, shops, townhouses and apartments.

WHAT ARE RECS?

Renewable Energy Certificates

Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) are an electronic form of currency initiated by the Federal Government under its Mandatory Renewable Energy Target Scheme. REC's are calculated under a formula based on the megawatt-hours of electricity generated by a small solar power system for example, or the efficiency of a heat pump or solar hot water system. The formula is also based on the location of the solar power system in Australia.

REC's are validated and registered with the Office of Renewable Energy Regulator (ORER) in Canberra. www.orer.gov.au

REC's are traded between registered parties in a REC market. The floating REC price is not controlled by ORER, but by market conditions. Owners of small renewable energy power systems such as solar systems can become registered and create RECS, have them validated by ORER and trade them with other registered parties. Alternatively, owners can assign their RECS to companies like Sustainable Man, and receive a discount on the purchase price of the system.