Why should I become Accredited?

Several government initiatives exist to encourage consumers to adopt renewable energy technologies, including solar photovoltaic power systems. As a non-accredited installer, you risk losing business from consumers wanting to take advantage of these schemes. For example:

Rebates

The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) provides rebates to owners of stand-alone (SPS) and/or grid-connected (GC) photovoltaic power systems using renewable energy as the primary energy source. These programs are:

• The Solar Homes and Communities Plan (SHCP);
• The National Solar in Schools Plan (NSSP); and
• The Renewable Remote Power Generation Program (RRPGP).

Feed-in Tariff Schemes

State-run Feed-in Tariff Schemes pay a premium rate paid for electricity fed back into the electricity grid from solar photovoltaic power systems. Depending on location, consumers can be paid several times the retail rate for their surplus solar electricity. For more information, please click here.

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) created in the REC Registry for solar Small Generation Units (SGU) must contain a CEC Accredited Installer Number in order to claim the the 15 year deeming period. This means that the unit must have been designed and installed by a person accredited for stand-alone (SPS) and/or grid-connected (GC) photovoltaic power systems under the Clean Energy Council Accreditation Scheme. For more information, please click here.

Note: Accreditation is a qualification that is available to individual solar photovoltaic power system designers and installers only. In this regard, it differs from Clean Energy Council Membership, which is only available to business entities. For information on Membership, please click here.