Image: Akaysha Energy
New South Wales has confirmed its battery incentive is back, and this time it covers businesses and apartment buildings, not just houses. From 1 September 2026, shops, factories, farms and apartment blocks installing batteries can get a discount of 20 to 40 percent on the upfront cost, on systems all the way up to 30 megawatt hours. The government says that can cut a typical commercial battery payback period from around seven years to under four.
What changed
The state announced the new incentives on 18 August 2026 under its Peak Demand Reduction Scheme. The scheme's household battery incentive was paused last year to stop double dipping into both the state scheme and the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program. The new round instead targets the buildings the federal rebate does not reach, through three new activities: BESS3 for apartment buildings, BESS4 for small and medium businesses, and BESS5 for larger commercial and industrial operators.
Who gets what
- Small and medium businesses: batteries from 20 kilowatt hours to 200 kilowatt hours qualify under BESS4, with bigger discounts when solar goes in at the same time. The government's worked example puts about $37,000 off a small grocery store's battery.
- Larger operators: BESS5 covers systems from 200 kilowatt hours up to 30 megawatt hours. A medium business such as a dairy farm could get about $355,000 off.
- Apartments: buildings with four or more dwellings qualify under BESS3, with incentives capped at 5 kilowatt hours of eligible battery capacity per dwelling.
- The state's virtual power plant incentive now covers batteries up to 50 kilowatt hours, worth up to $1,000 for signing up to send stored power to the grid at peak times.
Why it matters
NSW is currently adding around 10,000 new home batteries a month, according to the office of Energy Minister Penny Sharpe, but commercial buildings and apartment blocks have largely sat out the boom. These are the buildings most likely to actually use their rooftop solar during the day, and until now they had no state help to store it.
The evibe take
This is the missing piece for the NSW battery boom. Households already had a federal discount and a VPP bonus. Businesses and apartment blocks had nothing. A payback under four years is a real business case, not a good deed. The thing to watch now is whether installers can staff up fast enough once the scheme opens on 1 September.