State Government Rebates for Solar Hot Water around Australia
For further information and regular updates please visit http://www.orer.gov.au/

In addition to the price reductions offered by the RECs, some State Governments make rebates available on the installation of  solar water heaters under certain conditions. The rebates currently applicable to a 2 panel system are:

• NSW - $500 solar/elect $700 solar/gas (Participating Councils, on new or major renovations)
• Queensland up to up to $750
• Victoria $800 - $1500 SEAV (in place of RECs)
• South Australia $700
• Western Australia $300
• Northern Territory up to $400 (first home buyer) Each of the States applies different conditions to the payment of the rebates.

1. What are Renewable Energy Certificates?
A Renewable Energy Certificate (RECs) represents 1 MWh (mega watt hour) of renewable electricity generated by a power station or 1 MWh of electricity displaced by a solar water heater. RECs are electronic certificates that reside on a publicly available Internet database (www.rec-registry.gov.au). One MWh is 1,000 kilo watt hours..

2. Where do RECs come from?
The Commonwealth Government has set targets for the production of extra renewable electricity. Electricity retailers and other purchasers of wholesale electricity (called liable parties) are required to contribute towards annual renewable energy targets. The more electricity a company purchases, the bigger their contribution to purchasing renewable energy has to be.
Each year these liable parties must surrender Renewable Energy Certificates to the government to demonstrate their commitment towards the target. If they fail to surrender RECs they are required to pay a penalty of $40 for each REC they are short of their target.

3. How can I benefit from Renewable Energy Certificates?
The Government's requirement that large electricity purchasers demonstrate that they are buying more of their electricity from renewable energy provides a market for RECs from renewable energy generators and owners of solar water heaters. Liable parties may be interested in buying RECs created from your solar water heater installation. The value of RECs is determined by the demand and supply for certificates and may vary from buyer to buyer and from day to day.

4. Is this a government rebate program?
No.    The Government will check your eligibility to create RECs and will allow you to transfer them to others if you have sold them. However, the Commonwealth Government will not buy RECs from you and will not provide any payment with respect to your solar water heater installation.

5. How long do I have to create my RECs?
Certificates must be created within 12 months of the solar water heater installation date. Certificates may only be created on the Internet based REC Registry (www.rec-registry.gov.au) which involves a two step process of entering system details into the registry and proceeding to create the RECs once viewing entered information for accuracy.

6. Eligible renewable energy sources
The following technologies/sources will be eligible under the measure (where used for electricity generation, or in the case of solar hot water, where displacing electricity):
hydro;   wind;   solar;  bagasse co-generation;
black liquor;  wood waste;  energy crops;  crop waste;
food and agricultural wet waste;  landfill gas;  municipal solid waste combustion;  sewage gas;   tidal / wave  geothermal-aquifer;
photovoltaic;   solar hot water;   fuel cells;  hot dry rocks.

RECS value between $36 - $40/ rec. (August 2004) SHW products eligible from between 20 – 40 RECS.

Many manufacturers organise the paper work and provide the rebate at point of Sale!

7. How many RECs am I eligible for?
Typically a solar water heater will be eligible for between 10 and 64 RECs, depending on the location and system type. Certificates for solar water heaters can only be claimed once for each installation (equivalent to ten years' displacement of electricity).
To establish how many renewable energy certificates you may be eligible to create for your solar water heater you should check your eligibility by answering the eligibility questions above and refer to the tables in the regulations.

8. When will I get paid for my RECs?
Before receiving any payment for your RECs you must either create them yourself and sell them to another party or assign your rights to create RECs to an Agent. The time taken for you to receive payment is dependent on your arrangements with the buyer. Price and payment date should be the key considerations when negotiating to sell your RECs or your rights to create RECs