– NEW SOUTH WALES –
Batteries for Apartment Buildings Incentive: Explained
Lower shared energy costs and secure your building’s power supply with the new NSW Batteries for Apartment Buildings incentive.
The NSW Government introduced a significant new financial incentive under the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS).
Known as BESS3, this initiative is designed to help apartment buildings drastically reduce electricity costs and decrease reliance on fossil fuels.
It provides a lucrative upfront discount for installing new, shared solar battery systems.
This subsidises your hardware and installation costs, making it easier and more cost-effective than ever to have SAE Group build a system that stores your strata’s clean energy and safeguards your common areas.
How it Works:
You don’t have to worry about chasing rebates after your system is installed. The incentive is applied directly as an upfront discount on your SAE Group installation quote.
As a fully accredited provider, our strata energy experts handle the administrative heavy lifting. We calculate your eligible discount based on the size of your required system and the number of dwellings, generate the backend certificates, and apply the savings directly to your invoice. The owners corporation simply pays the reduced price.
The Benefits of the Apartment Building Incentive:
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Slash Shared Energy Costs
Store the excess energy generated by your building's solar system during the day and use it during expensive peak evening periods, drastically reducing the electricity bills for common areas. -
Increase Property Value
Adding shared renewable energy infrastructure to your building can directly add to the value of your property, making the apartments more attractive to potential buyers and tenants.
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Keep The Power On
Protect your building from costly downtime. By enabling battery backup capabilities, you ensure critical operations like lighting and lifts can continue running smoothly during grid outages. -
Support Net Zero
Help decrease NSW's reliance on fossil fuels, support greater renewable energy penetration, and bolster your strata's sustainability credentials.
What the Incentive Gives You & How Much You Can Save
The Batteries for Apartment Buildings incentive scales depending on the scope of your project.
Because the government wants to encourage holistic clean energy solutions, the discount is significantly larger if you bundle a battery with a new solar array. Keep in mind that the scheme recognizes a maximum of 5 kWh of battery capacity per dwelling when calculating the discount.
Depending on the energy solution SAE designs for your building, expect substantial savings straight off your quote:
Battery + New Solar System
Your strata could receive 30% to 40% off the total cost of installing your battery when our team installs it alongside a new or additional solar system.
You secure the maximum certificate calculation if the battery is installed within 90 days of the new solar capacity.
Battery-Only Installation
If your building already has sufficient solar and you only need SAE to retrofit a storage system, you can receive 20% to 30% off the installation cost of the battery.
Eligibility: Who Can Claim the Discount?
To secure the incentive, your building and chosen battery setup must meet a few straightforward requirements, all of which SAE Group guarantees when we design your system:
Building Type:
The site must be a Class 2 apartment building comprising at least 4 individual dwellings.
Townhouses and villas are excluded from this specific scheme.System Capacity:
The battery’s usable capacity must be at least 20 kWh and no larger than 200 kWh.Approved Technology:
The battery must be on the Clean Energy Council’s (CEC) approved list.Outdoor Installation:
The battery must be installed outdoors, meaning basements and internal plant rooms are generally excluded.Accredited Installation: The system must be installed by a Solar Accreditation Australia (SAA) professional. SAE Group’s in-house installers hold all required premium accreditations.
First-Time Claim:
Your building must not have already used this specific discount to install a battery.
Are You Eligibile?
If your strata manages a NSW apartment block with 4 or more units, is looking to install a new CEC-approved outdoor battery between 20 kWh and 200 kWh, and hasn’t previously claimed this discount, you are likely eligible.
Our energy experts will assess your site’s energy profile, existing strata plan, and outdoor space during a consultation to guarantee your new battery meets all scheme capabilities and maximises your return on investment.
How to Apply
Claiming the apartment building discount is effortless when you partner with the right team. Here is how SAE Group’s process works:
- Book a Free Consultation with SAE:
Contact our commercial and strata energy experts. We will assess your building’s energy profile, dwelling count, current solar capacity, and outdoor storage options to design a compliant system. - Review Your Upfront Discount:
We provide a customised, transparent quote with the 20-40% government discount already applied to the bottom line. We ensure you have all the necessary information, including the dwelling arithmetic and rebate breakdown, to present clearly to the owners corporation. - Approve and Install:
Once the owners corporation approves the quote and obtains any required local planning approvals, our fully SAA-accredited in-house team installs and commissions your system.
We claim the certificates on the backend, and your strata starts saving from day one.
Why Signing Up Sooner Maximises Your Savings
Government incentives are heavily tied to state energy targets and fluctuating certificate market prices. As more buildings adopt shared storage and the grid’s peak demand issues ease, these highly lucrative discounts can change.
By getting your quote and locking in your installation with SAE Group now, you secure the maximum possible 30-40% discount before funding pools diminish or certificate market rates are reduced.