TThe Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme encourages the purchase
of solar water heaters, heat pumps, and small-scale solar panel, wind
and hydro systems by offering a financial benefit to owners through the
assignment and/or sale of Small-scale technology certificates (STCs).

The Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC)

Small-scale Technology Certificates, or STCs, are a tradeable commodity
attached to eligible installations of renewable energy systems (including
solar panels, solar water heaters and heat pumps).
Under the Federal Government’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme,
when you install an eligible system, you may claim a set number of these
STCs.
This number is based on the amount of electricity in megawatt
hours (MWh):
• generated by your small-scale solar panel, wind or hydro system
over the course of its lifetime of up to 15 years; or
• displaced by your solar water heater or heat pump over the course
of its lifetime of up to 10 years.
The number of certificates you can claim may vary depending on your
geographic location, what you’re installing, whether your installation is
eligible for Solar Credits, and/or the size and capacity of the installed
system.

Solar Credits
Solar Credits is a mechanism which increases the number of STCs
that can be created for eligible installations of small-scale solar panel
(photovoltaic – PV), wind, and hydro systems.

Solar Credits are not available for any site which has already had a Federal rebate such as PVRP, SHCP or RRPGP.

The Solar Credits scheme currently allows a three times multiplier on the number of STCs for the first 1.5kW of a solar power installation. For systems above 1.5kW, the Solar Credit multiplier applies to the first 1.5kW, with standard STCs for the remainder.

The multiplier is set to reduce to a two times multiplier on 1st July 2012 and finally will be removed from 1st July 2013.

When you purchase a system from Solaris, you will receive a rebate for the value of the STCs generated, based on output for the first 15 years. The rebate will be deducted from your purchase price.

The price of STCs fluctuates depending on demand in the market but tends
to stay between $20 and $40/STC. There is a Government-guaranteed
price of $40/STC (excluding GST) if the seller uses the STC Clearing House.
However, certificates may take some time to clear, thus delaying payment
to the seller. 

If you want to ensure you get a $40 price per STC then you will need to do all the work ordinarily undertaken by an Agent. You will pay full price for your system, and manage the installation of it yourself to ensure that it is eligible to claim STCs. You will also need to create the certificates yourself on the REC Registry and have them validated by ORER. You can then either:
• Find a company that will purchase small numbers of STCs and
arrange a contract for their sale, or;
• Use the ORER-managed STC Clearing House to sell your certificates
for a fixed price of $40 (excl.GST) per STC.
STCs are placed in a queue for sale, where they wait until a buyer is
available. The sale can be immediate, or take many months – there
are no guarantees on how long your STCs will take to sell.
When the STCs are transferred to the seller you will receive the money
from their purchase.
As this process can be complex, the majority of our customers prefer to receive the market rate for their STCs as a discount against the total value of their solar power investment.

Off-Grid Solar Credits

If you are installing an off-grid Solar Power System then you may be eligible to apply the Solar Credit multiplier up to the first 20kW of system capacity.  Click for further details.