The federal Labor government has announced a major change to the long standing solar rebate system, increasing the installation cap from 100 kW to one megawatt as part of efforts to supercharge Australia’s “missing middle” and tap into the huge PV resource on factory and farm rooftops.
The radical change is to be announced by federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen in a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday. Excerpts from the speech, including the new changes to the SRES scheme, were released in advance.
The move taps into the huge momentum on the consumer side of the energy market that has been driven by the phenomenal success of the home rebate program, the introduction of the Solar Sharer “free power” offer, and the continuing strength of the household rooftop PV market.
However, Australia still has tens of gigawatts of untapped solar potential sitting on the rooftops of commercial and industrial buildings, and Bowen hopes the rebate can change that, and is also calling on regulators to ensure that distribution networks provide quick approvals to such installations.
“The lesson from Cheaper Home Batteries and EVs is clear to me: with the right policy settings Australians will respond enthusiastically in ways which when added up can lead to globally leading outcomes,” Bowen says in the released speech notes.
