Solar irrigation upgrades: Don’t let certificate funding go unclaimed 

Irrigation pumps are one of the biggest hidden costs on an Australian farm. In particular, if they run on diesel, they’re exposed to fuel price swings, need constant maintenance, and add to your emissions footprint – all to move water you can’t run the farm without. 

Solar-based pumping is one of the fastest-payback renewable upgrades available to Australian irrigators, and it also comes with government funding attached. But that funding is easy to miss – and it’s usually a timing problem, not an eligibility problem. The funding decision needs to be made alongside the engineering decision, not after it. 

Why the funding gets missed 

A farm plans a diesel-to-solar electric pump conversion. The engineering is sound: the installer sizes the system, orders the system, and the project goes ahead. Certificate eligibility isn’t checked until afterwards, if it’s checked at all – by which point you can no longer adjust the design to maximise what it qualifies for. You may also be ineligible if you leave it too late. 

The upgrade still happens and still cuts running costs. But funding that could have reduced the upfront cost, or been reinvested elsewhere, is left on the table. That’s not a failure of engineering. It’s a failure to connect the engineering decision to the funding decision before the project is locked in. 

State energy schemes can help fund your conversion 

Two states and territories – New South Wales and Victoria – run the best market-based schemes that turn eligible energy upgrades into certificates or credits with real value. Other states don’t run an equivalent scheme, though federal schemes still apply nationwide. Wherever you farm, it’s worth checking what you can access.  

 
Captured properly, that value can mean: 

• Lower upfront capital costs 

• A shorter payback period 

• Better return on investment 

• A stronger case in grant and funding applications 

• Faster progress against decarbonisation targets 
   

In NSW, for example, the ESSThe NSW Energy Savings Scheme (ESS) provides financial incentives to install, improve or replace energy savings equipment and appliances in NSW households and businesses. The ESS was established in 2009. Financial incentives are in the form of tradeable certificates, called energy savings certificates (ESCs). Generally, householders and businesses who fund energy savings activities transfer the right to create ESCs to Accredited Certificate Providers (ACPs) in return for a discount on the cost of the energy savings activity.  The MWh savings from the project determines the number of ESCs that can be created. The ESS works by allowing ACPs to create and register ESCs for energy savings that are supported with appropriate evidence. ESCs are then purchased each year by mainly electricity retailers operating in NSW to meet their share of a legislated annual energy savings target. covers a broad range of pumping upgrades under its Energy SavingsElectricity or gas savings or both. Certificates (ESCs), not just full solar conversions: 

• Diesel-to-solar irrigation pumping conversions 

• Diesel-to-electric pumping upgrades 

• Solar-assisted pumping systems 

• Variable speed drive (VSDVariable Speed Drive) upgrades 

• Pumping system optimisation and controls 
   

Eligible activities and certificate values differ from scheme to scheme. That’s exactly why it pays to check what applies in your state before the project scope is finalised, not after. 

Who this is relevant to 

It’s relevant well beyond the farm gate, wherever you’re located: 

• Farmers and agribusiness looking to cut input costs 

• Solar installers and EPCs (engineering, procurement and construction firms) scoping irrigation projects 

• Irrigation providers and agricultural project developers 

• Water and irrigation corporations planning infrastructure upgrades
   

Closing the gap between what’s available and what gets claimed 

Northmore Gordon’s role is to connect the engineering decision to the funding decision, wherever you farm, so the two are never made apart: 

• Assessment – validate what the project qualifies for before the design is locked in 

• Business case – combine the engineering findings with the certificate value so the investment case is complete, not partial 

• Environmental certificates – originate, verify and register certificates across Australia’s state and federal schemes, so the value is properly captured rather than assumed, including  

• Energy Savings Certificates (ESCs) in NSW,  

• Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs),  

• Peak Reduction Certificates for batteries in NSW (PRCs), and  

• Australian Carbon CreditA certificate that is equivalent to 1 tonne CO2-e. Credits often refer to instruments issued under a cap and trade scheme, where companies are allocated credits up to their emission cap. If they exceed the cap they need to purchase more credits. Units (ACCUs) for everywhere else.

Northmore Gordon has created more than 7 million environmental certificates and returned over $300 million to clients, with specialist experience across electrification, fuel switching and agricultural energy projects. 

Check eligibility before you finalise the design 

If you’re weighing up a solar or electrification pumping upgrade – or you’re already partway through planning one – check eligibility before the scope is finalised, wherever you’re located. Once the design is locked in, some of that value is harder to recover. Northmore Gordon offers a free eligibility check: Call 1300 854 561.