Gas hot water in Australia

[skylee]

Consider them as discount coupons. Also take a look at this.

The whole solar credits thing can be a tad confusing. Basically, when you install solar panels you are eligible for certificates from what is now known as small scale renewable energy scheme (SRES).

These are credits that you can either sell to your panel supplier, or keep and sell yourself through a clearing house. Most people just assign them to their supplier in the form of a discount off their purchase price.

You may also hear the credits being called RECS, or renewable energy certificates, which is what they were known as until the beginning of year. The reason for the name change was a glut in the market of RECS was pushing their price down, and potentially putting back projects such as wind farms because the companies creating wind farms need the certificates to be worth $45 or more to attract investment. At the end of last year RECS were worth about $30 - $32.

Now the government has split RECS into two – certificates for big installations, and certificates for small installations.

Depending on where you live, installing a 1.5 kilowatt system would normally earn you 26 small-scale technology certificates (in Melbourne and Hobart), or up to 34 small-scale certificates (in sunnier Darwin). These would be worth $1040 - $1360.

For systems up to 1.5 kilowatts, though, the federal government multiplies the number of certificates you get. Until July they will times them by five. On a 1.5 kilowatt system, that makes the certificates worth $5200 - $6800.

[imron]

When you want to redeem your credits, how do other people know how many you have, and how can you prove that you obtained them legitimately?

The answer of course is the certificates. The are the thing that proves you have earned those credits, and they also prove how many you own.

Except in this case, the certificates aren't really physical certificates. According to a quick search: "Installing an eligible system allows the creation of Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs), an electronic form of currency with a value that can be redeemed by selling or assigning them."

Consider them as discount coupons

Coupon is a good word.

[Kenny同志]

That makes perfect sense! Thank you Skylee.

And thank Imron (I didn't see your post before my submission of my post),hehe.

I had been thinking that the certificate was something like a 证书. 积分券 would be the right word I think.

[Kenny同志]

When you generate more power than you use, you also accumulate these points, which can add up to a total of maybe $650 a year. These points can't be redeemed for anything else, but they can be used to reduce your own power costs.

If the power I generate is more than self-sufficient, therefore I don’t need to redeem the points to pay less of my power bills. What should I do with the points? Is the “feed-in tariff” a kind of tax that people pay to the government but can use it to offset their power costs?

And is 60 cents not 0.6 澳元, but 60 points?

Context:You also get about 60 cents per kilowatt hour as a “feed-in tariff” for energy which you generate but don’t use.

Sorry friends for so many questions but I feel it unethical to translate if I have not fully understood the text.

[imron]

Perhaps points was a bad analogy to use. You're not getting points, you're getting a credit of $0.60 for every kilowatt hour you generate but don't use.

Regarding feed-in tariff, breaking it down, a tariff is like a fee. "Feed-in" refers to how much energy you are putting in to the grid, i.e. how much you generate beyond what you use.

So, for example, if you use 10 kilowatts a day, but you produce 15 kilowatts of energy, you'll have 5 kilowatts that you can "feed-in" to the electricity grid. For each of those kilowatts, you will receive a fee of $0.60 worth of credit, which you can redeem against the cost of your electricity bill.

If you're completely self-sufficient, and always generate more than you use (unlikely, but still possible), you can always sell the credits you own on the open market.

[Kenny同志]

Now all's clear. thanks Imron, you are my life-saver.

[xiaocai]

Accidentally posted something irrelevant, deleted.

BTW the buy back rate (0.6 AUD per kWh) is quite good I have to say...

[Kenny同志]

TW the buy back rate (0.6 AUD per kW) is quite good I have to say...

Our rate of electricity stands at around 0.6 CNY in Changde, Hunan.

[xiaocai]

But the 0.6 AUD per kWh buy back rate is how much the supplier pays for the excess generated by your solar panels and fed back to the system, which is higher than how much you pay to buy electricity from them. That is pretty awesome don't you think? It also means that if you schedule carefully and switch to energy saving appliances, you may end up getting "negative" electricity bills...

[xiaocai]

This wikipedia article on feed in tariff is quite informative I think.

[Kenny同志]

谢谢你小蔡. I really should do more google research.