Market Update | 7 August 2026

• Federal Government announces expansion to solar rebates for mid size solar sytems

• Data centre energy use under further scrutiny

Federal Government Expands Solar Scheme to Help Cut Business Energy Costs.

The Albanese Government has just announced it is expanding the Federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) from the current 100 kW cap to include systems up to 1 MW in size.

This reform aims to reduce the cost of installing medium-sized solar systems, between 100 kW and 1 MW, by approximately 20% for businesses, farms, and community organisations.

While residential solar in Australia has reached 22 gigawatts, business installations remain significantly lower at 5.6 gigawatts. By increasing the threshold, the government aims to unlock the potential of larger commercial rooftops, helping the “missing middle” to mitigate the impact of volatile energy markets and in doing so helping them to reduce costs and improve productivity.

This revised scheme has been tabled to commence on 1 October 2026, and is expected to provide significant upfront discounts. For example, initial government calculations suggest a 250 kW system could receive a $68,000 up-front discount while a 500 kW system could see a $136,000 reduction in installation costs.

Ecovantage will be working hard to understand the implications of this expansion to the SRES, so stay tuned for further updates.

Federal Government Backs Renewable Energy for New Data Centres.

The Federal government has also announced it is planning to introduce legislation to mandate that new large data centres cover the full cost of required grid infrastructure, including providing renewable energy to power these new facilities. 

The government has indicated its goal is to underpin Australia’s energy reliability and protect against negative impacts on emissions targets and household energy bills. 

Energy Minister Chris Bowen suggested the Federal Government will do everything in its power to override opposition, such as from the Queensland and Northern Territory governments, who have voiced a strong reluctance to adopt these proposed new mandates.

Other responses to the Federal government’s announcement include Data Centres Australia, who have called for faster renewable supply to accompany the new obligations, while the New South Wales state government has independently moved to implement similar infrastructure cost-sharing legislation. 

Weekly Market Update | 13 – 17 July 2026

Large-Scale Generation Certificates (LGCs)

It was a busy week on the LGC spot market, which opened and then finished the week with a flurry of activity. 

The start of the week commenced with multiple trades, which saw the price rise by $0.65 to $7.10. As the week progressed, the spot price settled back before another burst of activity saw the price push further forwards, with spot agreed as high as $8.25, before settling to close the week at $8.00.

This represented a healthy gain of $1.55 in the past 7 days, representing a weekly rise of approximately 25%.

The LGC forward markets were also active with trading across all vintages and healthy gains across all except CAL30.

• • CAL26 – up $1.90 to $8.30

  • CAL27 – up $1.75 to $8.25

  • CAL28 – up $1.15 to $7.90

  • CAL29 – up $1.25 to $7.00

  • CAL30 – steady at $6.00

Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs)

VEECs had a quiet week, with the most active trading day being Tuesday, which saw a total of 33k certificates changing hands, initially at $82.95, and then at $82.90, which is where the price remained. This represented a small decline of $0.10 vs the opening price.

The VEEC forward markets were very quiet, with no trades occurring across any vintages during the past 7-days.

Energy Saving Certificates (ESCs)

A meagre 5,251 ESCs were registered during the past week, most of which (81%) were under the Home Energy Efficiency Retrofits (HEER) program.

It was a mixed bag on the trading front – after opening the week at $29.25, the spot prices initially bounced around between $29.00 and $29.25. As the week progressed parcels of 5k and 15k both traded at $29.50. However based on the pattern across the full trading week, support for a consistently higher ESC price appears to be relatively weak at present.

There was no activity to report on any of the ESC forward markets.

Peak Reduction Certificates (PRCs)

After the recent announcement of the new NSW battery schemes, which are due to commence on the 1st September, we’ve started to see buyer inertia and a slide in the PRC price.

The only trade during the past week was a 100k parcel on Tuesday, which exchanged at $2.80, which was $0.20 or 7% lower than the week’s opening price. With the expected growth in the creation of PRCs related to the new battery activities, we may see the PRC price continue to soften in the near future.

For those interested in understanding more about the upcoming commercial battery activities, please get in touch with our team today.

Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs)

The generic ACCU spot market was relatively quiet, with a 20k parcel trading up slightly to $38.40 – a gain of $0.15. There was also some activity on the forward markets with multiple trades in April 27 seeing the price push up to $39.15, a $0.45 improvement. A 50k trade in March 27 also saw a slight increase of $0.13 in this vintage to $39.00.

The No Avoided Deforestation (AD) spot market was more active, with several parcels totalling 260k certificates traded across the week, which saw the price close at $38.70, a rise of $0.40.
 
There were also several trades reported on the Human Induced Regeneration (HIR) spot market, with a total of 100k certificates trading which prompted a $0.50 gain to finish the week at $38.85.

Small-Scale Technology Certificates (STCs)

STCs were again quiet, with just 30k certificates traded across the week. The spot price nudged back slightly with a 20k trade on Wednesday at $39.85 which was $0.05 lower than the opening price.

The Clearing House surplus continues to slowly erode, sitting at just over 1.6m certificates at the time of writing.

With the Federal government’s recent announcement to expand the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) from the current 100 kW cap to include systems up to 1 MW in size, effective 1st October, it will be interesting to see what impact this will have on the price of STCs in the coming weeks.

Certificates spot prices & graphs available at Market Update >

At Ecovantage, we consistently analyse market activity, policy changes, consultation releases, and creation rates in conjunction with wider landscape activity. This allows us to keep our clients at the forefront of all relevant changes, and to leverage the advantage that this presents. Thank you for your continued support, and please reach out if you have any general or project-specific questions.