In short
- A hotel's peaks fall at 7am and 7pm, outside solar hours. What solar covers is the daytime base: laundry, kitchen refrigeration, pool pumps, lifts and the air conditioning that runs all afternoon.
- Self-use is lower than a warehouse's, often 60–70%, so size to the daytime base rather than the roof.
- A hotel is one of the few businesses where a battery can be tested honestly against the evening peak, and NSW discounts it.
Solar pays on most hotels and motels in Australia, but not the way a hotel owner usually imagines it. Guest rooms are busiest in the morning and evening, when the panels are making little or nothing. What solar actually covers is everything that runs through the day while guests are out: the laundry, the kitchen's cool rooms and freezers, the pool pumps and heating, the lifts, the lobby and corridor lighting, and the air conditioning that climbs all afternoon in summer. That daytime base is large on a full-service hotel and small on a roadside motel, and it decides the system size. This page is the accommodation version of our guide to solar for clubs and pubs, which covers evening-heavy venues more generally.
| Quick facts | Solar for a hotel or motel |
|---|---|
| Share of solar used on site | often 60–70%; higher with laundry, pool or conference load |
| What solar cuts | the daytime base: laundry, refrigeration, pools, HVAC, lifts |
| What it doesn't cut | the 7am and 7pm room peaks, overnight load |
| Battery | worth testing against the evening peak and the demand charge |
| What to send | one recent bill; we get the interval data from it |
What does a hotel's load look like?
Two peaks and a plateau.
- Morning, 6am to 9am. Showers, hair dryers, breakfast service, the first laundry cycles. Panels are only starting.
- Daytime, 9am to 5pm. Guests are out. Housekeeping runs the laundry and vacuums, the kitchen prepares, the pool pumps and heating run, and air conditioning holds the building. On a summer afternoon this plateau can be as high as the peaks. This is what solar covers.
- Evening, 5pm to 10pm. Guests return, rooms light up, the restaurant and bar fill, and air conditioning stays on. Panels stop by 6pm. This is the peak that sets the demand charge on most hotels.
A motel without a restaurant or laundry has a much smaller daytime plateau, so its self-use is lower and its system should be smaller. A resort with a full laundry, a heated pool and a conference centre runs a daytime load that can rival a factory's.
How much will solar save a hotel?
A worked example with made-up figures. These are example figures, not our prices or a real site.
A Brisbane hotel with 120 rooms, an on-site laundry, a restaurant and a heated pool installs a 100kW system, which makes about 145,000 kWh a year.
- The daytime base is large but the panels still run ahead of it at midday in spring and autumn, so the site uses about 65% of the solar itself.
- 94,250 kWh × $0.28 = $26,390, plus 50,750 kWh × $0.05 to the grid = $2,537. Yearly saving $28,927.
- At an example price of $73,000 after the STC discount, that pays back in about 2.5 years.
A 30-room motel with a small daytime base installs 30kW, which makes about 43,500 kWh a year and uses about 60% of it: 26,100 kWh × $0.28 = $7,308, plus 17,400 kWh × $0.05 = $870, a yearly saving of $8,178. Our cost page gives $21,000 to $29,000 after STCs for 30kW, so the payback is about 2.6 to 3.5 years. Compare both with the site types on the payback-by-site table: a hotel sits in the middle, behind a cold store and ahead of a pub.
Should a hotel size to the roof?
No. Size to the daytime plateau. A hotel roof is often large enough for far more than the daytime base can use, and every extra kW above that point makes power the building sends to the grid for $0.05 while the evening peak still buys at $0.28. If the quote assumes 90% self-use on a hotel, ask where the figure came from. The interval data from your bill shows the plateau directly.
Two things raise the ceiling: an electric laundry run through the day rather than at night, and a heat pump for pool or domestic hot water timed to the middle of the day. Both turn spare midday solar into a saving at the full rate.
Is a battery worth it for a hotel?
A hotel is one of the better cases, for two reasons. First, there is real spare solar at midday, 50,750 kWh a year in the example, and the evening peak that could use it starts an hour after the panels stop. Each stored kWh is worth $0.28 instead of $0.05. Second, the evening peak sets the demand charge, and a battery that shaves it cuts that line as well. Put the two together and a battery can pay on a hotel where it would not on a warehouse. It still has to be tested against the battery's price over its warranty, with charging losses included. In NSW, the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme gives businesses an upfront discount on batteries from 20 kWh to 30 MWh, larger when new solar goes in within 90 days. See commercial solar batteries.
What does each state offer a hotel?
Nothing specific to accommodation. The federal STC discount applies everywhere, and since 1 October 2026 it covers eligible systems up to 1MW. Victoria's Victorian Energy Upgrades program gives an upfront discount on business systems from 30kW to 200kW. NSW discounts batteries through the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme. The other states add nothing for solar. The full state table is on the clubs and pubs page, and dates are on commercial solar rebates. Tourism industry grants come and go by state and are usually for efficiency rather than solar.
Roofs, guests and the install
- Multi-storey hotels have small roofs for their load. The system is often smaller than the business could use, and a car park canopy is the usual way to add area.
- Motels have long, low roofs over the room wings and a separate office block. The office and laundry meter is where the daytime load is; check which meter the panels will sit behind.
- Noise and access. Installs are staged around occupancy. Ask for the schedule and which rooms are affected.
- Managed or franchised properties often need the owner's and the brand's consent. Sort that before quoting.
What should a hotel send for a proposal?
Just one recent bill, every page, for the meter the main building runs on. Using the NMI on it, the team gets your interval data, which shows the morning and evening peaks and the daytime plateau in between. You don't need to request anything. If the laundry or pool is on its own meter, mention it in the form.
If you know them, mention these:
- Laundry: on site or outsourced, and the hours it runs
- Pool: heated or not, and how
- Occupancy pattern: business weekdays, leisure weekends, or seasonal
- Ownership: owner-operated, managed or franchised
Already have a quote? Compare it line by line with our checklist.
What to ask your installer
- What share of the solar do you expect us to use, and is that from our interval data?
- Where does our daytime plateau sit, and is the system sized to it or to the roof?
- What does the system save at our real rate per kWh, not a typical one?
- If you suggest a battery, what does it do to the evening peak and the demand charge, each on its own line?
- What is the install schedule, and which rooms or areas are affected?
- Does the network limit exports, and how much would we export in the shoulder seasons?
Send a bill and an accredited installer prepares a costed proposal sized to how your property uses power. It's free, with no obligation.