NSW and SA Battery Schemes
Many of our customers with battery storage systems operate their batteries to take advantage of the 5-minute electricity prices available from us. The batteries charge when the prices are low and discharge when the prices are high.
Some customers do this themselves, while others work with our partners.
This way, everyone works to make money for the customers, not for us. Our views on battery operations are discussed here.
Customers’ financial returns are reflected on their Localvolts electricity bills.
Government Incentives
The New South Wales (NSW) and the South Australia (SA) government offer one-time cash payments to residential and business customers who sign up to eligible Virtual Power Plants (VPPs).
Localvolts customers who operate their batteries intelligently for their own benefit may qualify for these government incentives. Intelligent operation is having batteries respond to market prices delivered by Localvolts.
Qualifying customers may receive up to approximately $1,000 and $2,000 in NSW and SA, respectively. Benefit amounts depend on a number of factors including battery capacity and customer type.
Application to these schemes is a three-step process.
- Localvolts will assess suitability and invite candidate customers to submit applications to Localvolts.
- Localvolts will confirm that the batteries meet basic requirements and are operating intelligently.
- Customers will apply to an external Approved Certificate Provider, MAC Trading Services, for final eligibility checks.
Successful customers will receive their money directly from the Approved Certificate Provider.
Localvolts charges a fee for performing the application and verification tasks. This fee is applied to successful customers’ Localvolts electricity bills.
Please note that neither Localvolts nor the Approved Certificate Provider are representative of the governments and do not determine eligibility under the schemes.
Some of the eligibility requirements of the two government schemes are summarised below.
NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS) – Battery Energy Storage System (activity name
- open to residential and small business customers with batteries
- battery and installation must be approved by the Clean Energy Council
- premises with aggregate usable battery capacity from 2 kWh to 50 kWh are eligible, but incentive is capped to 28 kWh
- usable battery capacity is deemed by the government to be 90% of the nominal capacity
- remaining system warranty of at least 6 years
- premises cannot have life-support equipment
SA Retailer Energy Productivity Scheme (REPS) – Connecting a New or Existing Battery to an Approved Virtual Power Plant (activity name VPP1)
- open to residential concession customers with batteries
- battery and installation must be approved by the Clean Energy Council
- premises with aggregate nominal battery capacity equal to or greater than 2 kWh are eligible
- remaining system warranty of at least 5 years