South Australia (SA) has a population of 1.8 million, with more than 77% living in the Capital Adelaide. SA has more than 373,740 homes and businesses that have installed a solar system, and 15,666 have a solar battery too.
To harness the sun’s power to heat their homes, 81,019S have installed a solar water heater or air source heat pump. South Australia has also installed 69 wind turbines.
(source – Clean Energy Regulator).
The Australian PV Institute estimates the percentage of dwellings with a PV system to be 43.1%. This is the 2nd highest state, behind Queensland, for the percentage of dwellings with renewable energy.
South Australia has transferred from 1% to 70% renewable energy in the last 16 years, by 2025 they estimate it could be 85% and SA is trying to achieve 100% net renewables by 2030. In 2021 on 180 days (49%) SA met 100% of its operational demands from renewable energy.
SA is also home to 5 large-scale solar farms in operation, 23 wind farms and 5 grid-scale batteries with another 2 under construction, and is home to the world’s largest battery, the 150 MW Hornsdale Power Reserve. (source – Government of South Australia – Energy and Mining)
The number of solar systems installed grows each day, as more households realise the benefits that such a system has on their power bills and the environment. Don’t let renewable energy savings pass you by any longer, take action today to see what benefits a renewable energy system could have on your bills and the positive impact on the environment.
South Australia’s Electricity Grid
South Australia is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM) and they have ElectraNet the high voltage transmission network service provider. You sign up with a choice of retailers, either on a standard or market retail contract.
To find an energy plan that meets your needs, Energy Made Easy is a great site by the Australian Government and can be accessed here. Please ensure you shop around to get the best deal, and make sure you consider the Feed-in Tariff (FITS) when looking at your energy provider, when you choose a renewable energy system for your needs, you want to get paid for the excess power your system produces.
Rebates and Incentives
Government Incentive – Small-scale Technology Certificates (STC)
When you install a renewable energy solution, you are entitled to claim Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) against the cost of the system. An STC is equal to 1 megawatt-hour of renewable electricity, either generated or displaced by eligible small-scale renewable energy systems such as solar PV, wind, hydro, solar water heaters and air source heat pumps.
The STCs are part of the Australian government’s Renewable Energy Target. STCs fluctuate a little in the marketplace and are generally always claimed on the customer’s behalf by the retailer installing your system.
You can claim them yourself via the REC Registry, however, it is much easier to allow your trusted and endorsed installer to claim them on your behalf. At the time of writing this, STCs are trading at $40 each, however, they have been as low as $16 per STC.
To see an up-to-date price please click here. At $40 per STC, this means for a 5kw inverter with 6.6kw of panels one can expect a reduction of $ 3,000.
The Clean Energy Regulator provides a free STC Calculator for you to establish how many STCs your renewable energy solution will generate. If you would like to see what your STC rebate would be with a ‘live’ price right now!
Greenbank Environmental can provide this here.
Feed-in tariffs (FITS) – Voluntary Retailer Contribution
Within SA you will be potentially eligible for a payment for any electricity you export back to the grid that you do not consume. This is known as a Feed-in Tariff.
In SA these are known as Voluntary Retailer Contributions. If you installed panels before September 2011 you could lock in a 44c FIT until June 2028.
If you ever increase the size of your solar system, then you would lose this high tariff. Further information on SA FITs can be found here.
Please pay attention when choosing your electricity retailer, as just because they have a higher FIT, this may not result in lower bills as they may have a higher supply charge or unit rate. In May 2023, you could get 5-15c FIT from AGL, 0-12c OVO Energy, 2-12c Origin Energy, 8.5-10c Energy Australia, 9c Energy Locals, 6-9c Simply Energy, 8c Sumo, Alinta Energy, 1st Energy……the list is endless, in SA you have a massive array to choose from.
If you would like to compare the best solar feed-in tariffs and electricity plans, then check out WATTever here. South Australia is trialling the world’s first flexible export limits, something which we soon be rolling out over all of Australia.
A recent article on this with further information was written by ABC News and can be found here.
Electric Vehicles (EVs)
The SA Government is currently offering an electric vehicle subsidy package, which includes a $3000 subsidy and a 3-year registration exemption. As of May 2023, there are 6,100 subsidies left.
Further information on the terms and conditions of the subsidy can be found here.
Battery Rebates
A rebate of up to $3000 was being offered by the South Australian Government. All home battery scheme subsidies have been allocated, it could be worth keeping an eye out for any changes with this here.
| Retailer | Min Solar FIT | Max Solar FIT | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| OVO Energy | 0.0c | 12.0c | |
| Energy Australia | 8.5c | 10.0c | System size 30kW max |
| AGL | 5.0c | 10.0c | System size 10kW max |
| Energy Locals | 9.0c | 9.0c | |
| Simply Energy | 6.0c | 9.0c | |
| Sumo | 8.0c | 8.0c | |
| Alinta Energy | 8.0c | 8.0c | System size 5kW max |
| Origin Energy | 2.0c | 8.0c | Only if buy solar through Origin – 10kW max |
| 1st Energy | 8.0c | 8.0c | System size 10kW max |
| IO Energy | 4.0c | 7.5c | |
| Circular Energy | 7.0c | 7.0c | |
| Momentum Energy | 0.0c | 6.8c | |
| CovaU | 5.5c | 5.5c | |
| Diamond Energy | 0.0c | 5.2c | |
| Dodo | 5.0c | 5.0c | |
| Lumo Energy | 3.0c | 3.0c | |
| Red Energy | 3.0c | 3.0c | |
| Powershop | 0.0c | 3.0c | |
| Kogan Energy | 0.0c | 2.1c | |
| GloBird Energy | 1.0c | 1.0c | |
| Amber Electric | 0.0c | 0.0c | Market-linked FIT (Variable) |
| Nectr | 0.0c | 0.0c | System size 10kW max |
| Zen Energy | 0.0c | 0.0c | |
| ReAmped Energy | 0.0c | 0.0c | |
| Tango Energy | 0.0c | 0.0c | |
| Powerclub | 0.0c | 0.0c | Market-linked FIT (Variable) |