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The 100 kW Gap now Gone. First time since 2011

The 100kW Cap Is Gone: SRES Expands to 1MW. First time since 2011 plus a new EV rebate

Author

Neel Bhattacharya
August 14, 2026

THE SOLAR AI

G'day ⚡

Quick number before anything else: exporting solar to the grid right now pays 3 to 10 cents a kilowatt-hour. Buying it back costs 30 to 35 cents. Roughly six times more expensive to buy your own power back than you got paid to give it away.

That gap explains almost everything that's happened in this industry over the past two weeks — and most people are reading the headlines separately instead of seeing the one story underneath them.


Neel Bhattacharya
Strategist, Solar AI & LeadTrackAI

UNDER 4 MINS - LET’S GO →

⭐ GRANTS OPEN NOW

FEDERAL —  The federal DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream ($20M pool, up to $3,000 per fixed charger) closes applications Friday 28 August. If you're bundling chargers into a solar+battery offer for a customer with dealer ties, worth flagging before it shuts.

FEDERAL— The Cheaper Home Batteries Program grew from $2.3B to $7.2B in funding, but the rebate factor now steps down every six months instead of annually. Translation: the case for a battery is getting stronger, the discount for waiting isn't.

Feature Story

📊 The 100kW Cap Is Gone: SRES Expands to 1MW

On August 5, the SRES eligibility cap lifted from 100kW to 1 megawatt — the first change of its kind since the scheme launched in 2011. Commercial systems that were locked out of the upfront discount are, from 1 October, in. Government estimates put the saving at around 20% upfront, close to $200,000 on some larger jobs.

Read that against the 6:1 gap and the real shift becomes obvious: this isn't just a bigger rebate. It's the first time the incentive structure has rewarded a business for sizing a system to what it actually consumes during the day, rather than for maximum panel count. For fifteen years the industry sold size. The math now sells fit.

One thing worth naming plainly: the businesses that win the next six months of this shift won't be the ones with the best panels. They'll be the ones who get back to a re-opened quote, a past client, or a warm enquiry before someone else does — commercial deals especially move slowly and quietly, and it's easy for a good lead to sit for a week while a team gets to it.

That's the exact gap AI follow-up systems like the one we run at Solar AI were built to close — not a pitch, just worth knowing if speed is where you're leaking deals.

The Offer

   🤖 NSW opens new commercial battery activities Sept 1

BESS3, BESS4, and BESS5 go live under the state's Energy Savings Scheme — early mover advantage for anyone who gets accredited and pipeline-ready before the rush.

AI handles the chase. Every enquiry answered in 60 seconds. Every owners'-corp contact tagged, sequenced, and followed up on a schedule — the reminder before the meeting, the recap after, the "have you had a chance to review the quote" that a busy human forgets to send. Nothing goes cold across a three-month decision.

Your team handles the room. You walk into the owners' corp meeting with every stakeholder already warmed up and informed — not starting from scratch each time.

AI at every step, human effort amplified. It's the difference between "strata is too hard" and "strata is our niche."

The Spotlight

 ⏳ Renewables just had its best year on record

AEMO confirmed FY25-26 as Australia's strongest year for large-scale completions — 9.1GW reached full output. Commercial appetite is real and growing; the SRES change above is about to widen who can act on it. Question Every Solar Founder Needs to Hear →

The Essentials

⚡ 2 IN 60

Record year for renewables.

Renewables overtaking coal globally for the first time in a century (Ember, 2025 data)

Feed-in tariffs collapsed on 1 July.

🎙️ Announcing: 5 Pilot Spots Before the Step-Down

or the first time, I'm opening the 30-Day Pilot directly to newsletter readers — the same program I run privately for commercial installers.

What it is: One channel (Google Ads or LinkedIn), AI-targeted at the commercial and strata decision-makers most likely to convert. Landing page built. CRM wired. AI lead routing live. Nurture sequence running — the kind that keeps a slow strata decision moving. Weekly reporting. Live in Week 1.

What it costs: $3,500 + GST, one-off. Thirty days. Cancel anytime. No lock-in. At day 30 you see the numbers and decide.

Why now: A pipeline built in August closes in October and installs while the 2026 maths still favours your customer. November is too late.

Why only 5: We build and run every pilot personally. Five is what I can do properly this window.

We'll map your follow-up gap, run the rebate maths on your average job, and you decide. Doors close Friday 8 August or when the 5 spots fill — whichever comes first.

Full rebate breakdown + ROI numbers: REPLY REBATE

Before you go

Not ready for a call? Do this instead: hit reply and tell me your average response time to a new commercial enquiry. Honest answers only — I read every reply and I'll tell you exactly where you're leaking installs.

Next week: what happened when one installer stopped letting leads go cold. Same 5 spots, one week closer to the deadline.

P.S. If strata's new to you, don't try to figure out the grant paperwork solo — the follow-up engine matters more than the forms. Grab one of the 5 Pilot spots before Friday 8 August and we'll wire your pipeline to chase these deals for you.

— nEEL Solar AI | www.thesolarai.com

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