Will Only 7 Batteries Qualify For The NSW Battery Rebate?

The NSW government battery rebate has been causing some angst for NSW solar and battery installers.

Installers have rightfully complained the November start has put all their battery business on ice as consumers rationally wait for the rebate to kick in before buying solar batteries.

Since we last wrote about the NSW battery rebate, further details for eligibility were announced, and more head-scratching is happening in the solar industry.

What Are The Criteria For NSW Battery Rebate Eligibility?

You can read the full document here – but the salient points are:

• 4. The End-User Equipment must have a warranty of at least 10 years and guarantee that at least seventy percent (70%) of Usable Capacity is retained 10 years from the date the End-User Equipment is installed at the site.
• 5. The End-User Equipment warranty must define the normal use conditions during the operation of the End-User Equipment as not being less than:
  • 1. A minimum ambient temperature range of -10 °C to 50 °C
  • 2. A minimum warranted throughput of 3.65 MWh per kWh of Usable Battery Capacity

Are These Criteria Reasonable?

The 10-year minimum warranty is very reasonable, and the 70% usable capacity after 10 years is also reasonable—but it knocks out some big players, like Sungrow, which warrants 60% after 10 years.

I suspect many battery manufacturers will hastily re-issue warranties with 70% minimums to avoid missing out on the NSW bonanza.

The ambient temperature range requirements knock several otherwise eligible batteries out of contention in a worst-case interpretation.

This is due to the somewhat ambiguous ‘ambient temperature range’ mentioned in the criteria. Some batteries, like the Energizer Homepower, state in their datasheets two ambient temperature figures – one for charge and one for discharge:

The minimum warranted throughput figure of 3.65 MWh per kWh of usable capacity is also somewhat odd.

If you take a generic 10kWh battery with a 10-year warranty, one cycle per day for 10 years equates to 36,500 kWh—or 3.65 MWh per kWh. So, on the surface, this is a reasonable minimum to enforce.

However, some major players, like Tesla and BYD, warrant a specific kWh throughput less than this requirement.

For example, Tesla warrants ‘unlimited’ cycles – which would make it eligible – but if you use it as part of a VPP, they warrant 37,800 kWh, or 2.8 MWh per kWh, making it ineligible for the rebate. It becomes a question of whether the NSW government uses “worst case” scenarios when evaluating batteries for eligibility.

I reckon there will be industry—and consumer—pushback once more people realise popular batteries may not be eligible for the rebate.

So, Who Is Eligible?

I expect the NSW government to release an official eligible battery list at some point (their website references an “approved product list”).

For now, looking at the SolarQuotes battery comparison table, only these batteries appear to meet all the requirements:

• Enphase IQ Battery 5P (note: their warranty allows 60% capacity, but after 15 years – it is logical to assume at the 10-year mark, capacity will be above 70%)
• Zenaji Aeon
• SolarEdge Energy Bank
• Sonnen
• Alpha-ESS (note: they have 10-year battery warranty but short 5-year product warranty – unclear if this disqualifies them)
•  Soltaro AIO2
•  SolaX Triple Power

This seems like a rather short list, arguably missing the best batteries available in Australia in 2024 (i.e. Tesla, BYD, Sungrow). Here’s looking forward to some eligibility clarification from the NSW battery bureaucrats.

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Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/seven-batteries-qualify-nsw-battery-rebate/