The Victorian government will expand the eligibility for the solar panel rebate to new homes under construction, enabling Victorians to save on installation costs and electricity bills from the moment they move into their newly built home.
The changes will save homeowners up to $800 on installation costs by fitting panels as they wire the electricity to their new homes, as well as an average of $1,073 each year in energy costs.
The expansion paves the way for the increasing electrification of homes, while opening the program to tens of thousands of additional households each year – with around 40,000 new homes built in Victoria annually.
“We know energy prices are putting pressure on households, expanding Solar Homes to new builds will help tens of thousands of Victorians save thousands on electricity costs and help us cut emissions by 50% by 2030.” Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said. “We’re putting power back into the hands of Victorian households – driving down energy costs and boosting supply, creating thousands of jobs and cutting solar installation costs for new builds by hundreds.”
Under the changes, eligible Victorians building homes will be able to apply for a rebate of $1,400 as well as being able to access a $1,400 interest free loan to install solar panels during construction.
Since it began in 2018, the Victorian government’s $1.3 billion Solar Homes Program has helped more than 195,000 households install solar PV systems. This investment has already cut Victoria’s carbon emissions by 1.6 million tonnes – equivalent to the emissions produced by 500,000 cars each year – while supporting 5,500 clean energy jobs.
Household solar is expected to generate 12.5% of Victoria’s 40% renewable energy target by 2025.
This financial year, there are 64,000 government rebates available for solar PV systems. Applicants must use a Solar Victoria authorised retailer and install a product included on the approved products list to qualify for the rebate.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.