New South Wales homes and small businesses now have double the incentive to install a solar battery and connect it to a Virtual Power Plant, providing almost $5,000 in upfront benefits for a typical system that unlocks long-term cost-of living reductions.
The Australian Government’s $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program will support households and small businesses with a discount on the cost of installing small-scale battery systems. This will reduce the cost of a typical installed battery by around 30%, making this support around double the current incentive available to NSW consumers.
Related article: WA gets first-ever home battery rebate and loan scheme
The NSW Government will now almost double its incentive for households and businesses to connect their solar battery to a Virtual Power Plant, stacking with the Commonwealth solar battery incentive, to unlock more cost-of-living relief.
From 1 July 2025, the NSW Government is increasing the incentive to up to $1,500 to encourage more households and small businesses to install a battery and connect to a Virtual Power Plant. The incentive varies by the size of the battery.
It means NSW households and businesses will be able to access double the current incentive for installing a battery (through the Commonwealth program) and double the current incentive for registering it with a Virtual Power Plant (through the NSW scheme).
For example, if a household installs a typical 11.5kWh system, the combined support would be almost $5,000. If the household installs a larger 27kWh battery, which costs just over $30,000 without support, it will receive a discount of around $10,000 from the Commonwealth program. If it then connects the battery to a Virtual Power Plant, it will receive an upfront payment of almost $1,500 from the NSW scheme.
The increased Virtual Power Plant incentive will replace the NSW home battery installation incentive which has been doubled by the Commonwealth program.
Related article: NSW Government announces new home battery incentive
The NSW Government incentive for solar batteries has been a huge success, with more than 11,400 battery installations in six months.
Anyone with a compatible solar battery, including those installed under the NSW incentive since November, who has not yet taken up the Virtual Power Plant incentive, is eligible for the newly doubled incentive from 1 July.
