NSW government announces gross solar energy feed-in tariffs

Like most Australian states, the NSW government offered ‘net’ feed-in tariffs to consumers and businesses who installed grid-connected solar energy panels on their premises. However, this proved to be a lesser incentive than the ‘gross’ feed-in tariffs provided by some countries.

But on 10 November, NSW Premier Nathan Rees announced the introduction of ‘gross’ feed-in tariffs as part of the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme, thereby providing greater incentives for the deployment of solar panels.

Premier Rees said: “Our gross payment system will deliver higher paybacks to families and makes NSW national leaders in the clean energy revolution.

“A ‘gross scheme’ is based on the total solar energy produced in your home rather than payments based only on what you don’t use. These changes will see an average family paid around $1496 a year. That’s a 62% increase on the previous scheme and means households can pay off their investment in solar panels in around eight years.

“Under our scheme, homeowners will know up front how much they will be paid for all the energy their solar panel produces.

“Creating certainty in the feed-in-tariff scheme is one way we can encourage families to invest in solar technology and support the clean energy industry.”

Households with solar panels will be paid 60 cents per kWh and an average household system would generate around 2500 kWh annually. The NSW scheme will have a cap on the size of home solar systems of 10 kW. A system this size would generate around 16,700 kWh and pay almost $10,000 a year.

The Minister for Climate Change and Environment and Minister for Energy, John Robertson, said that the scheme would be introduced into Parliament this week: “We are introducing legislation to allow these changes to come into effect next year. Transitional arrangements will also be made for families already receiving a feed-in tariff.”

The scheme is proposed to run for seven years.