Effective November 1, 2024, battery installations in solar systems will be eligible for Peak Reduction Certificates (PRCs) under the NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS).

Aimed to reduce demand in peak times, lowering the cost of electricity and reducing risk of power outages, this new incentive will be applied to support households and small businesses in their installation of a new behind-the-meter BESS and participation in VPPs.

How does the incentive work?

The NSW government introduced new methods / battery activities known as: BESS1 and BESS2.

Customers are rewarded when they discharge the batteries and "offsetting" during peak times. Peak Reduction Certificates (PRCs) are then allocated. Like claiming STC's in Australia, Pro's will work with their STC/PRC broker and get paid on the customers behalf, these can then be sold for a dollar value. The funds then get provided to the installer, and  is then usually passed on through a reduced initial cost for the end customer.

The current peak period is defined as the hours of 2:30pm to 8:30pm AEDT from September 30th to March 31st each year. For each 0.1kW of peak demand deemed to be saved within this period through an eligible upgrade, 1 PRC may be created.

How does OpenSolar support the PDRS incentive?

OpenSolar models BESS1 and BESS2 incentives based on guidance from the PDRS Method Guide V2.1. In our Incentive database, Peak Hours Battery Incentive type has been added and made available by November 2024. 

With parameters aligned with the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) guide, you can easily apply this incentive to your projects.

When you create a new org from herein, this incentive is already set-up and made available on your organization’s Incentive database.

For existing organizations, you may add and manually create these incentives by heading to Control > Others > Incentives > + Add Incentive and then fill in the fields depending on BESS1 or BESS2 type of scheme.

Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (BESS1)

The following are the values for BESS1 – Install a new behind the meter battery energy storage system.