Solar Victoria’s Residential Electrification Grants

Successful proponents will upload the information on completed installations through the Solar Victoria portal monthly. They will be paid monthly in line with the number of eligible and completed installations. It is a condition of this grant that the full funding amount is passed on to homeowners.

The full $10 million will be passed on to homeowners by approved providers. The funding passed on to homeowners will be the equivalent of a Solar Victoria rebate for Solar PV ($1400) and hot water ($1000). Homeowners are not eligible to claim PV and hot water rebates from Solar Victoria for the installations completed via the Residential Electrification Grant.

Yes, it is a competitive grant process. Funding may not be shared among successful applicants as different projects will have different requirements. Additionally, it may not be possible to fund all successful projects in full, where part funding is to be considered, this will be discussed with the applicant prior to approval. The assessment panel, made up of qualified solar industry experts, will make decisions on funding allocation based on the individual merits of projects as assessed against criteria and on their assessment of the collective alignment of projects with program objectives.

Solar Victoria's Mandatory Eligibility Criteria will be applied as an 'assessment criteria' under this program. Providers will be required to demonstrate in the EOI application how they intend to promote their projects to Target Beneficiaries of the Funding as specified in the EOI guidelines. 

Measures to ensure this may include requiring the provider to tell us their retail or rental prices before and after the funding amount has been applied, committing to Solar Victoria through clauses in the Funding Agreement that they will pass the rebate amount on in full and committing in a legal agreement with the homeowner that they will pass on the rebate amount on in full.

No. Loans are not available under this program. However, an eligible household can apply for a solar battery loan outside of their Residential Electrification Grants participation.

The administrative burden will be minimised for both the provider and homeowner. For example, amalgamated data will be accepted for proof of installations, rather than data being manually entered for each household. Providers can also allocate funds directly to homeowners, rather than requiring homeowners to make applications to prove their eligibility.

There will be some additional administrative obligations for providers including negotiating the funding agreement, reporting and forming an agreement with homeowners. Solar Victoria will work with successful providers to tailor the process based on the nature of the organisations and projects to minimise the administrative workload.

Yes. A contract template will be provided by Solar Victoria displaying the information that must be recorded, this includes the amount of funding to be passed on by the provider, permission to pass their personal details on to Solar Victoria and agreement to receive communications from Solar Victoria.

Yes. The provider will be required to be (or become) an authorised retailer or installer to participate in this program or will be required to engage Solar Victoria approved retailers or installers as consortium members.

Only solar PV and hot water systems on the existing Solar Victoria product lists can be installed under this program. 

Yes, funding can be allocated between solar panel (PV) and hot water systems.

Residential premises, including detached and semi-detached houses, townhouses and apartments (Class 1 and 2 as defined by the Victorian Building Authority) will be eligible under this program. 

At this stage installations can only be made on residential properties.

Yes, however Solar Victoria will need to verify whether a property will be owner occupied or a rental, even if it is a new build. 

Solar Victoria cannot allocate rebates where the home has been built but it does not have an owner. Solar Victoria must verify that the funding will be passed on to a homeowner.

No. Only private homeowners and owners of rental properties are eligible to receive funding.

Yes, the Residential Electrification Grants program will not change arrangements for claiming Small-scale Technology Certificate’s (STC’s) under the Australian Government’s Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme.

The EOI does not set specific requirements for consortiums.

The grants will support those providers that present new and unique approaches to making or enabling the installation of solar PV and/or hot water in Victorian homes at scale. Examples of projects suitable for these grants are listed at page 4 of the Guidelines.

Under Solar Victoria’s Residential Electrification Grants it is expected that funding provided is passed on to the homeowner in full at the household rebate value set by the Solar Homes Program. Where it is being applied as a discount, the Solar Victoria funding must be specified as a line item.