New South Wales launches energy loan scheme
Sydney (17 June)
The New South Wales (NSW) Government has launched its A$557 million Home Energy Saver scheme to encourage energy efficiency and household-level renewable generation and storage projects.
Households earning up to A$210,000 per year are eligible for up to A$15,000 of interest-free debt funding for energy-saving, renewable generation, and energy storage projects, the Government announced on 17 June.
The Government plans to create additional discounts for lower-income households later in the year, it added. These discounts will account for A$77 million of the scheme’s total cost.
Helping lower-income households afford smart solar systems, batteries, efficient cooling, and heating is the fastest way to permanently drive down household expenses while building a more resilient grid, Smart Energy Council CEO David McElrea said.
NSW’s loan programme complements the Federal Government’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. Households can claim tradable credits – known as small-scale technology certificates (STCs) – for their renewable generation and storage under the scheme.
Each STC is equivalent to 1 MWh of power. Electricity retailers and large-scale users buy the credits to meet their renewable generation obligations under the Government’s Renewable Energy Target.
STCs last traded at A$39.40 per credit on 10 June, according to environmentally oriented advisory firm Demand Manager.
Off-grid solar generation – in residential, commercial, and industrial areas – accounted for 16% of generation in the National Energy Market over January-March, up from 15% a year earlier, data from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) show.
Australia’s consumer solar generation capacity is expected to increase from 25 GW in 2025 to 87 GW by 2050, according to forecasts in AEMO’s draft 2026 Integrated System Plan. The country’s household battery storage capacity is only forecast to increase from 2 GW to 27 GW over the same period, according to AEMO.
By Avinash Govind