Did you know that you will get paid for excess power that your solar panels produce.
That’s right! Once you’ve had your grid connected solar panels installed, any excess energy produced will be fed back into the grid and you will receive a credit on your account. This gets measured by the new bi-directional power meter which gets installed after your panels and inverter are installed. As an added bonus, if you produce more energy that you consume, than you will receive a cheque in the mail. Sounds good doesn’t it.
The Solar Feed-in Tariff is different for each state and can also depend on what your energy retailer is offering or weather you have a Net Feed-in Tariff or a Gross Feed-in Tariff. Make sure you give the power company a call and ask what they are paying for excess energy from solar panels. Below is a break down of the net and the gross feed-in tariffs.
Gross Feed-in Tariff
The Gross Feed-in Tariff was rolled out in NSW a few years ago and stopped in early 2011. The Gross feed-in tariff is still available in the ACT, however it is not certain for how much longer. In a nut shell, a gross feed-in tariff allows you to have your solar panels feed every Watt of electricity they produce back to the grid. Unlike the net feed-in tariff, with which you do not have to use the solar energy on your home or workplace first. In New South Wales, not only could you sell the whole load back to the energy companies, but you also got a massive 66c per kW produced. That’s more than double the rate which the average house holder pays for power.
Net Feed-in Tariff
The Net Feed-in Tariff is standard practice across most of the country now. It’s kind of like an over flow system. What you do not use in your home or workplace will overflow back into the Grid and you will be paid for it. I guess it makes people become more aware of their energy consumption. Most people want to sell as much solar power as possible, so they turn all the appliances off before they go to work. I’ve even herd of people reading with candles so they don’t use any power whilst their panels are at work.
Breakdown of Each Australian State’s solar power Feed-in Tariff
- Queensland - Net Feed-in Tariff – 8c per kWh + 8-9c per kWh retailer contribution for systems up to 5kW’s
- New South Wales – As of 27th June 2012, the New South Wales feed-in tariff is between 7.7c and 12.9c per kWh. This was announced by the Independent pricing and regulatory Tribunal (IPART). What the determining factors for the broad rate are undisclosed. Therefore, the best thing to do would be to get in touch with the energy retails directly and see what they can offer. You can do this on the IPART website.
- Victoria – Transitional Net Feed-in Tariff – 25c per kWh for systems up to 5kW’s. Commercial solar power systems above 5.0kW’s and under 100kW’s are eligible for a 1:1 rate. Applications had to have been lodged before 30th of September 2012. New Net Feed-in tariff of 8c pet kWh will apply for applications made after 30th of September 2012.
- South Australia - Net Feed-in Tariff – 23.1c per kWh. Maximum size of 10kW’s over each phase up to 3 phases
- ACT – Gross Feed-in Tariff – up to 45.7c per kWh produced for systems up to 30kW’s.
- Western Australia – Horizon Power offer a Net Feed-in Tariff of up to 50c per kWh for systems up to 30kW’s. The rate varies from town to town. Click here to see what the rate is in your town.
- Northern Territory – Gross Feed-in Tariff at the same rate as the usage
- Tasmania - Net Feed-in Tariff at the same rate as the usage for solar power systems up to 3.0kW’s. This is paid through Aurora Energy.
Click here to get 3 free solar power quotes from CEC accredited solar panel installers in your area.
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