In short
- An irrigation pump is the best daytime load on a farm, and the worst out of season: it uses nearly everything a system makes from October to March and almost nothing in winter.
- Regional New South Wales is Essential Energy, and the export limit on a rural feeder, often small or zero, usually decides the system size before the roof does.
- No state solar rebate. The Peak Demand Reduction Scheme gives a discount on a battery, which matters on a zero-export pump site.
Yes, solar pays on most New South Wales irrigation sites in 2026, but the system has to be sized to the pump and to the export limit on the line, not to the shed roof. In the Riverina, the Murray and the Macquarie, pumping runs through the day in the irrigation season, so a well-sized system is used almost entirely on site. Out of season the same panels export for a small credit, or for nothing where the feeder is capped. This page covers what changes for a New South Wales site. The general case is on solar for irrigation.
| Quick facts | Irrigation solar in New South Wales |
|---|---|
| Regions | Riverina (Griffith, Leeton, Coleambally), the Murray (Deniliquin, Finley), the Macquarie (Narromine, Warren), the Lachlan, Namoi cotton |
| Distributor | Essential Energy across regional NSW; Ausgrid and Endeavour in the Sydney basin only |
| STC zone | Zone 3, rating 1.382 for Sydney; inland postcodes to confirm, some may be zone 2 |
| State help | No solar rebate; Peak Demand Reduction Scheme discount on batteries |
| Export value | low, often capped; size to the pump |
| What to send | one recent bill for each pump meter; we get the interval data from it |
What's different in New South Wales?
1. Essential Energy and the rural export limit
Sydney's two distributors stop at the metro boundary. Every irrigation district in the state is Essential Energy, which runs the longest rural network in the country. Much of it is long feeders and single-wire earth return lines, and on those the network limits exports to protect voltage. The limit can be small, or zero, per connection.
That changes the design. A pump that draws 80kW through the season can carry an 80 to 100kW system with little export in season, but the same system exports its whole output in winter. If the limit is zero, that winter output is curtailed. Sizing to the pump, not the roof, and treating each pump meter as its own project, is how a New South Wales irrigation site makes the sums work. The Sydney commercial solar page covers the metro networks.
2. STC zone 3 on the coast, possibly zone 2 inland
Sydney postcodes sit in STC zone 3, rating 1.382. For a 2026 install the scheme counts five years, so a 100kW system earns 100 × 1.382 × 5 = 691 certificates, rounded down. Inland irrigation districts are sunnier, and some western postcodes sit in zone 2, rating 1.536, which earns about a tenth more. Each pump meter is its own system for the discount, and since 1 October 2026 the scheme covers eligible systems up to 1MW on a site.
3. No solar rebate, a battery discount
There is no New South Wales rebate for commercial solar panels. What the state has is the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme, which gives businesses an upfront discount on a battery from 20 kWh to 30 MWh, larger when new solar goes in within 90 days. On a pump site that cannot export, a battery that shifts spare midday solar into the late-afternoon pumping hours is worth testing against that discount.
4. Seasons, tariffs and diesel
Irrigation in New South Wales runs on the allocation: rice and cotton from spring to autumn, horticulture in the Riverina and Sunraysia for longer, pasture and lucerne in pulses. A pump on grid power is often on its own tariff, sometimes a controlled-load or a demand tariff, so the rate the solar saves is the one on that meter's bill, not the general business rate. Where the pump is diesel, solar is a different conversation: the saving is diesel at the pump, and the question is whether grid connection or a standalone solar pumping system is the cheaper route to it.
Centre pivots and drip systems pump long hours through the day, which suits solar; flood irrigation pumps in short bursts, which suits it less. Across a year, 50 to 60% self-use is a reasonable planning figure for a seasonal pump with no other load on the meter.
A worked example for a Riverina pump
Here is a worked example with made-up figures. These are example figures, not our prices or a real site. The price is the one our commercial solar cost page uses for a 100kW system.
- A 100kW system on a Riverina pump shed, assumed to make about 1,380 kWh per kW a year, the Sydney city page's figure, so about 138,000 kWh a year.
- The pump uses about 55% of that itself across the year, 75,900 kWh: nearly all of it from October to March, almost none in winter. 62,100 kWh goes to the grid.
- At $0.28 for each kWh the site no longer buys: 75,900 × $0.28 = $21,252. At $0.05 for each kWh exported: 62,100 × $0.05 = $3,105.
- Yearly saving $24,357. At an example price of $73,000 after the STC discount, that pays back in about 3.0 years.
Now the same site with the feeder capped at zero export: the saving is $21,252 and the payback about 3.4 years. That is the export limit's whole effect, and it is why the proposal must state the limit it assumes. On a zero-export line, a smaller system sized to the pump's daytime draw, or a battery with the state discount, usually comes out better per dollar. The proposal should show both sizes with the sums.
What to send
Just one recent electricity bill for each pump meter, every page. Using the meter number on it, we get your interval data, which shows the pumping season, the daily pattern and the demand charge. You don't need to request anything from your retailer.
If you know them, mention the pump size in kW, the irrigation type, the months you pump, and whether the shed roof or a ground mount is the likely site. Send a bill and an accredited installer prepares a costed proposal sized to the pump and the export limit. Already have a quote? Compare it line by line with our checklist, starting with the export limit it assumes.