Solar for Apartments

An additional 5,000 rebates of up to $2,800 per apartment (up to $140,000 per property) are available until Friday 6 December 2024, or until all rebates are exhausted, whichever comes first.

Building eligibility now includes strata townhouses and units under the control of an Owners Corporation and sharing a common property rooftop.

By adopting solar, an average household in a multi-unit development can save up to $500 a year on their energy bills.

In Round 2, your retailer will apply the rebate as a discount on your invoice to reduce your upfront costs. If you are a retailer, you can go to information for retailers.

The Solar for Apartments Program is jointly funded by the Victorian and Commonwealth governments.

Understand owners corporation eligibility

Rebates will be provided to Victorian Owners Corporations (OCs) with up to 50 occupiable lots. To be eligible, your OC must:

• be a ‘tier three Owners Corporation’ or ‘tier four Owners Corporation’, as defined by the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic) – this refers to OCs that consist of 3 to 50 occupiable lots and are not a ‘services only Owners Corporation’
• not have previously received funding under the Solar for Apartments Program.

OCs should engage both owner-occupiers and owner-investors on the benefits of the program and encourage their participation.

Entities not eligible for funding include:

• individuals
• government agencies
• private sector businesses and agencies
• educational institutions
• local government authorities
• not for profit organisations.

Understand building eligibility

To be eligible, your building must:

• be no more than 8 storeys tall from ground level
• be a completed development at the time of application
• be classed under the National Construction Code as a Class 2 domestic building (e.g. an apartment complex) or a group of horizontally attached Class 1a buildings (e.g. townhouses or row units) – go to the Victorian Building Authority website for more information about building classes
• have a median capital improved residential lot value that does not exceed $950,000
• have not had a solar panel (PV) system installed in the last ten years (the OC may apply for funding to install solar PV for residential lots not already connected to an existing system)
• be located in the State of Victoria
• not be a retirement village, commercial building or owned by a local council, property developer or community housing organisation
• not be connected to an embedded network for its electricity supply.

Eligible systems

Solar PV systems will be eligible for funding if they:

• supply power to a minimum of 5 residential lots, and no more than 50 lots
• demonstrate a payback period for the system and installation cost within 10 years (the payback period assessment is based on the total cost for supply and installation of the eligible system after any small-scale technology certificates have been applied and prior to application of the funding from the program)
• equitably share the cost saving benefits of the system among participating residents (residential buildings with commercial lots are eligible subject to demonstrating equitable sharing of system costs and benefits)
• for shared solar systems, limits the energy supplied to the building’s common area to the equal proportion available to each residential lot for shared solar systems
• directly supply power to residential lots behind the meter
• are installed on parts of the roof that are common property
• use products on Solar Victoria’s eligible product list and are installed by a Solar Victoria authorised solar retailer, unless otherwise expressly agreed to by Solar Victoria
• have approval from the building’s Distributed Network Service Provider (DNSP) if the applicant wants to connect and export self-generated solar to the grid.

OCs can propose solar panel (PV) systems that are most suited to the needs of their residents. Systems can be made up of individual systems directly connected to residential lots or a single large system coupled with solar sharing technology. We recommend systems that connect to all residential lots, including rentals.

In cases where energy is supplied to the building’s common area, it must not exceed the amount of energy available to each participating residential lot.

The solar panel (PV) system will not be eligible if it:

• is installed through a third-party Power Purchase Agreement
• exclusively provides energy to common areas of the property
• connects to apartments with an existing solar panel (PV) system that was installed in the last 10 years, or
• has already been installed.

Please note: If you completed the initial Eligibility Check, you will need to re-enter your details to complete your application.

Information for Round 1 applicants

Solar for Apartments Round 1 applications closed on 31 May 2024. If you applied in Round 1, you can still access the eligibility criteria and documentation requirements:

OCs with Round 1 applications will still need to provide the same information to be considered for final approval and invited to sign a funding agreement. Final approvals and funding agreements for Round 1 will be signed in October 2024.

We will provide funding to Round 1 OCs post installation and after we have received the final invoice. Part funding can also be provided with evidence certain milestones have been met.

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