From 1 September 2026, the NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme creates Peak Reduction Certificates for commercial and industrial battery storage. Enter your system size below to estimate how many certificates a project could create, and what they are worth at today’s certificate price.
From – Peak Reduction Certificates, on the system above.
Get this modelled on your real load →Certificates are traded, so the value moves with them
Your project is worth whatever certificates fetch on the day they are created, not what they fetch today.
Worked through on the figures you entered, step by step, so you can check it or hand it to your own engineer.
The scheme rules behind those steps
What we have deliberately left out
A separate federal battery program can apply to smaller systems, under 100 kWh of usable storage, and would sit on top of the NSW certificates. It runs on different rules and a different certificate, so folding it into one figure here would flatter the number without helping you. If your system is in that range, we have built its own calculator too, and we will run both for you on a real project.
Treat this as a scale check, not an offer, a quote or a ruling on eligibility. It applies the scheme method to the four numbers you typed in and nothing else. It has not seen your site, your load, your switchboard or your product list. Certificates are created by an Accredited Certificate Provider at the time of the project, not by this page. Whether a project qualifies at all depends on the current scheme rule, the equipment used, the installer’s accreditation and a site assessment.
Your figure above is what the scheme is likely to contribute. It does not tell you whether a battery is the right call for your site. Three things decide that, and none of them are in the calculator.
Storage earns its keep by moving your own generation into the expensive hours, and by holding down the half hour that sets your demand charge. A site with a sharp evening peak has a lot to gain. A site with genuinely flat, low demand has much less. The only way to know which you are is 12 months of interval data, read properly.
The incentive can only be claimed once per site, which makes sizing a one shot decision. A system built to maximise certificates and a system built to match your actual load are not always the same system. The second one is the one you have to live with for 15 years.
An incentive reduces what the asset costs to buy. It says nothing about who funds the balance, who operates it, who monitors dispatch so it discharges at the right moment, and who is accountable in year seven when performance starts to drift.
That third one is why Zool Energy is built the way it is. We are an energy partner, not an installer: we design, fund, build and operate the system ourselves, and you pay a fixed cost per kWh under a single agreement for 10 to 25 years. No capital outlay, and fees apply under the agreement. Either way, the modelling comes first.
Get your site modelled →Send us your details and we will come back with a modelled position for your site: the battery size your load actually supports, how much of your evening peak it covers, what it does to your demand charge, and how the September rules apply to that specific configuration.
Trouble loading the form? Open it in a new tab. We use your details to respond to this enquiry. Modelling is indicative and based on the information supplied. Any agreement is subject to credit assessment and contract terms.
They are two activities under the NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme covering battery energy storage at business scale. BESS4 covers usable capacity over 20 kWh and up to 200 kWh. BESS5 covers usable capacity over 200 kWh and up to 30 MWh, with certificates created on the first 10 MWh.
Installation must occur on or after 1 September 2026.
Not as a cheque. The scheme creates Peak Reduction Certificates with a market value, created by an Accredited Certificate Provider, which reduce the delivered cost of the project. Certificate prices move, so the final value is set at the time of the transaction.
No, but it changes the rate. Projects with new solar of at least a quarter of the usable battery capacity qualify for the higher rate. Projects without new solar are calculated at a lower rate.
No. For systems up to 200 kWh the scheme rule requires the customer to have paid at least $5,000 excluding GST, per item of equipment, and that payment cannot be reimbursed. Anyone describing this as a fully funded or free battery is describing something that does not exist. What the scheme does is reduce the delivered cost of the project.
Residential buildings and data centres are excluded, as are sites that have already received a BESS4 or BESS5 incentive. Planning and network approvals must be in place, the battery must be internet connectable and controllable by a Demand Response Aggregator, and it needs a 10 year warranty retaining at least 70% of usable capacity. Up to 200 kWh the product must be on the approved list and installed to AS/NZS 5139 by an approved installer. Over 200 kWh it must be tested to UL9540A.
No. It is claimable once per site, which is why sizing the system correctly at design stage matters more here than it normally would.
Yes. Under a funded agreement the incentive reduces the delivered cost of the system, which flows into the fixed cost per kWh rate rather than arriving as a rebate your organisation has to claim itself.
No. It applies the published scheme methodology to the inputs you entered. It does not assess your site, your load, your switchboard or your eligibility, and it does not include the cost of the system. Treat it as a scale check, then get the site modelled.