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Searching great energy plans for you
Your solar journey begins today.
Natural Solar, one of our preferred installers is offering ENGIE customers up to $1,000 in savings on a new solar system over 5kWh and Tesla Powerwall 2 purchased by June 30th 2024. Plus, join your new battery to our ENGIE Virtual Power Plant energy plan and you could earn up to $740 in credits in the first 12 months. Register your interest today.
How much can I save from Natural Solar?
*Purchase a new system through Natural Solar by June 30th, 2024, and they’ll give you.
$1,000 off a solar system over 5kWh and Tesla Powerwall 2 installation or $500 off a Tesla Powerwall 2 home battery installation.
Natural Solar Terms & Conditions: Only applicable for ENGIE customers with new orders in NSW, VIC, SA or QLD. Not applicable on existing orders. Installation must occur within 30 days of purchase. Order must be made prior to June 30, 2024 with a 10% deposit. Solar system size must be 5kWh or greater, in conjunction with a Tesla Powerwall 2 purchase to be eligible for the $1,000 saving.
Plus, Join your Tesla Powerwall 2 to our Virtual Power Plant energy plan and start earning
*Install an eligible battery through Natural solar
Receive a $500 sign-up credit and approximately $20
monthly VPP credits when you join our VPP with your new battery. The longer you stay the more you earn!
view our eligibility criteria ENGIE VPP - New battery and solar plan | ENGIE
Plus, receive a competitive solar Feed-in Tariff to help make the most out of your solar exports.
Your battery stores excess energy
When your solar system generates more energy than you can use, the excess is stored in your battery, which you can draw on after the sun goes down and your solar is no longer generating electricity.
Support the grid
Our priority is to always ensure you have enough energy stored in your battery to meet your needs. When the grid is under stress, the VPP will share excess energy with your local community and you benefit from ongoing credits.
Read our FAQs below for more information on how we use and share your excess energy.
What people are saying about VPP
I haven't had a power bill in two years
"The VPP is part of my whole energy setup, and because everything's combined, I haven't had a power bill in two years. I wanted to join the VPP because of the rebates offered".
Jeremy Mugg
... generous battery subsidy and export rate
"I wanted to opt into the VPP because of the generous battery subsidy and export rate. I also think it's helpful for grid support and helping ease climate change."
Kaden San
I saved 62% of the cost of the battery
"The upfront and ongoing credits made the cost of the Tesla battery far more affordable, I saved 62% of the cost of the battery. It was a great way to help recoup the cost of the solar battery system"
Fiona
Am I eligible?
To be eligible for the ENGIE VPP energy plan, you must meet the following criteria:
- Purchased an eligible battery from one of our preferred installers.
- Have the system installed within 3 months of signing up to the offer OR have signed up to the offer within 30 days of the installation date.
- An available, continuous, and reliable internet connection to which your energy storage system is connected (excluding 3G & 4G internet connections).
- A fully functioning solar system with a minimum inverter size of 5kW and maximum size of 10kW.
- Have a Smart Meter
You can view the full eligibility criteria within our terms and conditions.
Frequently asked questions
What are the benefits of joining a Virtual Power Plant?
Store excess energy
When your solar system generates more than you can use, your battery stores this excess energy for you to use in the evening when the sun goes down.
Share excess energy with your community
When the grid is under stress, the Virtual Power Plant will share excess energy with your local community. Don’t worry, you’ll always benefit from annual VPP credits to your account, and you won’t have your supply interrupted due to your participation in the VPP as our priority is to always ensure you always have enough stored energy in your battery to meet your needs.
Support the grid
Battery storage and VPPs do more than simply earn bill credits. These smarter, more sustainable energy solutions mean you’ll also be helping take care of your community and environment by supporting the grid.
How will I receive my credits?
When you purchase and install an eligible battery through one of our preferred installers, you will receive a $500 sign-up credit applied to your electricity bill, plus approximately $20 monthly VPP community credits. Your monthly VPP Community credit is calculated by multiplying the daily rate of 0.657534c (GST exempt) by the number of days in a month. This is an ongoing contract. The longer you stay, the more you earn!
Do I still receive my Feed in Tariff whilst on a VPP?
Yes, customers who join our VPP will receive a Feed-in tariff (FiT).
What is my solar FiT?
What is my solar FiT?
Your Feed-in Tariff will depend on the state you are located. Your current ENGIE Feed-in Tariff will be listed below;
- NSW: 15c/kWh (as of 23 November 2022)
- VIC: 15c/kWh (as of 23 November 2022)
- SA: 15c/kWh (as of 1 July 2022)
- QLD: 7c/kWh (as of 1 July 2022)
To see if you are eligible for a Premium or Distributor FiT, or learn more about how Solar FiTs work, visit our Help Centre.
Can I get a government grant for my battery?
Yes, in addition to our $500 sign-up credit, there are government grants for eligible residents to help make your battery more affordable.
VIC: To view the current governments grants available, visit https://www.energy.gov.au/rebates
Can I join if I have received a government grant for my battery?
Yes. Customers are still eligible to join if they have received a grant for their battery purchase.
Do I need to have the battery installed when I sign up?
No. Customers have the option of signing up prior to having their battery installed by a partner installer, but will need for the installation of your battery to happen within 3 months of signing up. As we require your battery details prior to providing your credit, you will not be eligible for the $500 sign-up credit until your battery is installed.
Do you need to install anything on my battery?
No. We connect customers to the VPP community via a cloud-based platform, so no installation is required.
How many times will ENGIE access my battery?
Our priority is to maximise the benefit our customers receive by joining our VPP community. We guarantee that in any 12 month period we won’t extract more than 405kWh from your Energy Storage System.
Historically we have used less than 100kWh per year, so you can be confident your VPP Payments will always be significantly more than the cost of ENGIE to access your battery.
For Tesla Powerwall, this reflects our strategy of supporting the grid by providing frequency support. The Frequency Control Ancillary Service (FCAS) markets, which typically require only a very short imports or discharges of energy to help support the grid.
What will happen during a blackout?
With minimal disruption, the battery will automatically back-up either your whole home or selected essential loads (depending on which circuits you have selected to be supplied and how many power phases are in your home).
Some key features of a battery during a blackout include:
- The ability for your solar PV system to continue generating energy to power your home and/or charge your battery (only applicable for single phase solar PV inverters)
- In most cases you won’t notice the switch to using the backup power in the battery
As part of our VPP you will have access to a minimum storage capacity in the battery. For customers with Tesla Powerwall 2, the manufacturers recommended minimum capacity is 20%.
Why do you use my battery?
We use your battery in two ways to support the grid when power demand is high:
Wholesale Energy Market Support
In Australia, wholesale energy prices are set every 5 minutes based on the energy supply available and current demand across the grid. In some rare cases, when there is exceptionally high energy demand (for example, during a summer heat wave) or a sudden reduction in supply (for example, if a power station breaks down), wholesale energy prices can spike to very high levels. By exporting the excess renewable energy stored in your battery at these times, we can support the electricity demand and create extra value from the wholesale energy market.
Ancillary Services Support
A side effect of an imbalance between the energy supply and energy demand is a change in the frequency of the electricity on the grid. Significant frequency variations from the standard 50Hz can lead to issues across the grid. The grid operator has established markets to provide ancillary services to stabilise the grid's frequency in times of need. These markets are called Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) markets. Your battery can provide these ancillary services by responding to grid frequency deviations and briefly charging or discharging power. In doing so, it also generates payments from these FCAS markets.
You will receive VPP Community Credits in consideration of the payments we receive for this support.
What happens if you don’t use my battery?
Your credits are not contingent on whether we use your battery. If we don’t use your battery, this will not impact the value of your credits that you will receive over this period.
Which internet connections are not suitable for the VPP?
Currently the response times for 3G & 4G are not suitable for the VPP.
I'm an existing VPP customer, can I sign up to this energy plan?
Yes, you can still sign up to this plan if you're an existing VPP customer, although you are not eligible for the $500 sign up credit.
I have more than 1 battery, am I eligible for multiple credits?
You are eligible to receive a sign-up credit & VPP community credits per battery (up to a maximum of 3), if:
- Each battery is am eligible battery;
- You have 3 phase connection and each battery is connected to an individual phase; and
- You have an export agreement in place to allow for energy from all batteries to be exported concurrently.
What are the current batteries eligible for the VPP?
- Tesla Powerwall 2
- Eguana Evolve – installed after 16/11/2023
We also have a regulated Standing Offer available. For more information, call us on 1300 029 223.