Commercial solar and batteries
Guides, calculators, and analysis for Australian businesses considering commercial solar.
A single 40-degree week can set a commercial demand charge for the month, and for the next twelve under a ratchet. Worked warehouse example with battery arithmetic and a summer readiness checklist to send customers now.
A section-by-section walkthrough of what a commercial solar proposal needs to include to actually get approved: the bill decomposed, the system, financial assumptions listed explicitly, and a payback sensitivity table.
Most quoting software is built to design a roof. Commercial work is won on the bill. Here is what to evaluate, and the seven-step test that settles it.
The 99 kW design ceiling is disappearing. Here is what solar professionals need to re-size, re-quote across the 1 October start date, and add to proposal templates before then.
The seven-step sequence for turning a customer's electricity bill into a credible solar and battery sizing: what to pull off the bill, building the consumption profile, modelling production, running scenarios, incentives, sanity checks, and what to send.
Above the STC ceiling (1 MW of site capacity from 1 October 2026, 100 kW before), solar earns LGCs annually instead of an upfront STC discount. Here is how the scheme works and what a certificate is really worth in 2026.
Commercial feed-in tariffs sit around 3 to 8 c/kWh while daytime retail power costs 25 to 35 c. Here is what each state pays, why self-consumption drives the business case, and where export limits bite.
Upfront STCs for solar up to 1 MW from October 2026, worth roughly $272/kW at current prices. What the registered rules say, and how the 1 MW ceiling is tested.
Generic sizing tools get Australian incentives wrong. Here is what the category does, how bill-first and roof-first quoting differ, and how to pick between them.
From mid-2026 the NSW PDRS pays for batteries as PRCs, deemed upfront, across five new activities. Here is what each one covers and how the certificate maths works.
Cheaper cells and a federal discount have shortened commercial battery payback, but it still hinges on your load shape. Here is what actually moves the maths.
On a TOU tariff, solar offsets your most expensive hours first. Here is how to size and run a system so generation lands on your own load, not the grid.
A 50 kW Victorian system earns about 65 VEECs, roughly $5,370 off the install. Here is the earnings maths by size, band, and location.
The "NESC" you were quoted is not a real scheme. The ESS and PDRS are, and they stack on top of STCs for NSW commercial solar.
Three incentive schemes, different eligibility rules. Find out which ones apply to your business and how much they are worth.
Payback varies from 3 to 7 years depending on state, system size, and incentives. See the live state-by-state table, the same system priced at three electricity rates, and your own scenario.
Commercial bills are complex. Learn what each charge means and where solar savings come from.
A 200 m² office needs a different system than a 2000 m² warehouse. See sizing recommendations by business type.
Demand charges can be 30 to 50% of a commercial bill and solar only cuts them when your peak lands in daylight. See what 50 kW off the peak is actually worth per year.