Home battery boost as NSW launches interest-free loans, Victoria expands rebate

A couple of small wins for the Australian residential energy storage market this week, with the Victorian government’s rebate scheme extended to 150 more postcodes in the state, and in New South Wales, the long-awaited launch of its battery loan program – albeit as a pilot, only.

First to Victoria, where the state Labor government’s solar battery rebate of $4,838 has been extended to include more than 250 postcodes across the state.

This is a significant expansion of the eligibility criteria of the scheme, considering the battery discount was originally offered to just 24 postcodes around the state, and then expanded to a total of 104 inner Melbourne and regional areas in November of last year.

Victoria’s battery rebate, which has had a much slower uptake than the state’s rooftop solar rebate, will this year offer a total of 1000 discounted battery storage systems to eligible solar households.

Solar Victoria will no doubt be hoping that the more-than-doubling of the eligible postcodes will boost the number of applications for heavily discounted home battery systems, to bring it more into line with the uptake of solar.

You can see the updated list of eligible post codes below, courtesy of a Gippsland Solar Facebook post. And to see the other eligibility criteria, go to the Solar Victoria solar battery page.

In New South Wales, the Coalition government’s election promise of no-interest loans for home battery storage is finally being realised, with the launch late on Friday of a pilot program in the state’s Hunter region.

The up-to 12 month pilot will offer interest-free loans of up to $14,000 for a solar-battery system, or up to $9,000 for the addition of a battery to an existing solar system, to eligible owner-occupiers with an annual household income of up to $180,000.

As in Victoria, the NSW scheme is being offered to a select group of postcodes to start with, in this case including the areas of Cessnock, Dungog, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Mid-Coast, Muswellbrook, Port Stephens, Singleton and Upper Hunter.

“This is about unlocking the saving and sustainability benefits offered by solar-battery systems” state energy minister Matt Kean said in a statement.

“For households that use more than 6,000kWh of electricity a year, installing a solar and battery system can help reduce their annual electricity bill by putting more than $250 a year back into your pocket.

“This will help create jobs, reduce emissions, increase system security and reliability, and place downward pressure on energy costs for everyone.

“The NSW Government remains committed to achieving net zero emissions in NSW by 2050 and this is one of the many clean energy initiatives we’re introducing to deliver on that target,” Kean said.

For more details on the Empowering Homes Solar Battery Loan offer, visit the NSW government page.