SolarPlus is the leading battery sales platform to help you through the requirements of the NSW battery rebate launching on November 1st, 2024.
You can design and model energy and savings for everything from DC-coupled BESS to a bespoke AC-coupled battery system.
You can also model any system upgrade including battery only sales or partial solar + battery upgrades to show the savings and payback.
With this new program and concerns around lithium batteries, the government will be auditing to ensure full compliance with standards.
Managing the administration of the NSW Battery Rebate
New rebates can generate a lot of interest but can also cause major admin headaches, bottlenecks, mistakes, and cashflow issues. It’s good to make sure you know what you’re signing up to.
A few of the key things you need to manage in an application for the NSW battery rebate include:
- Correct calculation of the battery rebate based on the location and the battery usable capacity
- Generation of a risk management assessment which includes a battery arc flash calculator for appropriate PPE along with lithium specific risk mitigation documentation
Battery Rebate Discount Calculator
In much the same way as the STC Rebate, customers get a point-of-sale discount on the value of the Peak Demand Reduction Certificates (PRCs)
SolarPlus supports automatic calculation of the NSW PDRS Scheme battery rebate so your sales reps don’t need to get out a calculator.
Risk assessment documentation
A requirement for the application is documentation of risk assessment and this includes a battery arc flash calculator for appropriate PPE along with lithium specific risk mitigation strategies.
You can also complete the risk assessment in SolarPlus in a minute, completing the battery arc flash calculator and using the auto-generated job safety assessment that covers requirements for lithium batteries if they are included in the job. This can then be downloaded to attach to an application.
AS/NZS 5139 Compliance
The battery system must be installed in accordance with AS/NZS5139. Well, every battery system must be installed to that standard but the condition is one that may catch out anyone taking shortcuts. The program is high risk for the NSW government so the audit program is likely to be extensive in the early days.
Fortunately, SolarPlus provides a detailed SLD, best practice battery commissioning form, and System Manual to tick off the many requirements of battery systems under AS/NZS5139.
Handling the sticky stuff
Taking a Deposit:
Yes, you have to take a $200 deposit, go figure! No problem, in SolarPlus, set up Stripe credit card payments in minutes and that’s taken care of.
IPART Fact Sheet:
An IPART Fact Sheet must be included with your quote. This is automated in SolarPlus as you simply add that fact sheet on the subsidy item in your inventory pricebook and it will be added to every quote you provide with the rebate.
What to do about GST:
As with STCs, there is much confusion around GST in rebates. Rebates like this are a point-of-sale discount, you are not selling the rebate. There is a GST component within the total rebate amount but that GST is applicable in the invoice when the rebate is traded to the buyer of the PDR Certificates.
BESS1 and BESS2!?!
BESS1 refers to any battery system that is behind the meter, so the homeowner has full unhindered use of that stored energy.
BESS2 refers to a battery storage system that is connected to a Virtual Power Plant provider and therefore the battery energy can be siphoned off for a certain number of times and a certain energy volume per annum.
Each has a different multiplier for the rebate certificate quantity calculation, easily done with SolarPlus subsidy multi-select quote workflow.
How do I design and show savings on a battery only system upgrade?
In SolarPlus you can add the existing solar components and mark them as pre-existing. This will not only remove them from your quote but will allow you to give a battery only saving estimation and payback time.
- The ‘before’ scenario models the solar production, consumption, and grid export/import so you have an estimate of their bill.
- The ‘after’ or ‘with battery’ scenario models the performance with the battery storage in detail with DC and AC bus modelling.
- You even have the option to set a before and an after tariff if you want to recommend the customer switch to a tariff that will result in better savings.
