How STCs are handled for Residential/Commercial projects (AU)

Summary

OpenSolar gives you the ability to add your STC incentive for both your commercial and residential projects. In the following article, we will review how the STC differs in each of these projects.

Note: This incentive is only available in Australia

What are STC's?

In Australia, Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) are a government incentive to help accelerate the adoption of solar on both a residential and commercial scale. 

The number of certificates is calculated based on the region as well as the size (kWp) of the system. The price per certificate can change over time and will be calculated at the time the STCs are processed. 

STCs can be created and the settings (such as certificate price & number of years remaining) can be edited in the Control > Other > Incentives section. Read more here. 

Residential vs Commercial

There are different tax (GST) treatments for STCs based on whether the project is residential or commercial.

You can mark whether a project is residential or commercial by going to the Project Info section and expanding the Site Details sub-section:

Please refer to this article by the ATO for more information: https://www.ato.gov.au/business/gst/in-detail/your-industry/gst-and-the-small-scale-renewable-energy-scheme/?page=2#System_owner 

Residential

If a project is marked as residential then the STCs will be treated as GST-free, meaning that no GST will be applied to them when calculating the final price of the system. 

Commercial

If a project is marked as commercial then the STCs will attract GST which will then impact the GST on the final price.