AN INNOVATIVE finance program that addresses increasing energy prices and the growing need to cut operational costs and emissions has attracted more than 40 dealer groups to investigate the benefits of solar energy for their dealership properties.

The program, provided by Macquarie Leasing with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), is tailored specifically for dealer groups.

The program offers a discounted finance rate for solar energy systems and, typically, shows an average cost payback within only three or four years.

The finance rate is a discount of 0.7 percentage points off the dealership’s standard rate. The finance is from a $100 million CEFC fund that was established to promote the finance of energy-efficient assets, including sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Macquarie Leasing division director, Russell Bryant, said the fund allows Macquarie to apply the discount to the finance of many energy-efficient assets.

“This includes solar – which is a current program – through to vehicles, air-conditioning, building management and even LED lighting,” he said.

Mr Bryant said Macquarie has designed the program for all Australian dealerships, not just those already partnered with Macquarie.

“Currently, we are providing it to the Macquarie dealer base because we have an existing relationship there,” he said.

“But we are offering the program to any dealership, whether they have a relationship with us or not. The aim is to help dealerships reduce both their business expenses and emissions through the provision of a competitive solar energy package.”

Mr Bryant said the reaction by dealers had been “very positive”.

“We already have orders from four dealer groups and further quotes are with another 40 dealer groups,” he said.

“There’s been a lot of activity since we started in September. These dealers are major and multi-franchise groups. For multi-brand dealerships on one site we are further developing even more specialised products.

“The quotes that have been provided so far have all had really good payback periods in terms of how quickly a dealership will make a return on their system,” he said.

“We’re averaging between a three- and four-year payback period for the quotes we have been doing, and finance can be arranged from between 12 months and seven years*.”

Mr Bryant said the solar systems are supplied by reputable providers selected by Macquarie Leasing. The main installer is AGL. He said all providers only use Tier-One products and are CEFC- approved installers.

“Each site is different, so they require individual quotes and inspections,” he said.

Mr Bryant said the use of batteries to store energy accumulated during the day and used at night is well suited to dealerships but, at this point, the Macquarie systems do not use storage batteries.

“We can quote on storage batteries, but we are finding at the moment that the market’s not really there yet. The economics don’t quite stack up right now. The systems we arrange are designed to be future-ready, though. This means that batteries can be plugged in later when they become more financially beneficial,” he said.

“We’ll probably see commercial applications for storage batteries sooner than in domestic situations because dealerships use a lot more power at night; for floodlights for example.

“They have 24-hour energy requirements, so they’ll be among the first market leaders when the time is right.

“Solar and storage batteries will also place dealerships in a good position to offer electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid charging solutions,” Mr Bryant said.

The Macquarie Leasing program extends to new energy-efficient vehicles and equipment, as well as rooftop solar and battery storage.

Investment in equipment to upgrade the energy efficiency of buildings, such as energy- efficient lighting, building management systems and air-conditioning, will also benefit from the discounted finance.

Meanwhile, the CEO of the CEFC, Ian Learmonth, said the Macquarie Leasing program was an important extension of his organisation’s efforts for clean energy solutions.

“By making this discounted finance available through financiers such as Macquarie Leasing we are making it easier for Australians to prioritise clean energy options when they make major investment decisions,” he said.

ClimateWorks estimates Australia can reduce carbon emissions by around nine million tonnes by 2030 by increased sales of electric vehicles and introducing alternative energy such as solar.

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* Payback periods vary and are subject to many factors and assumptions, including, without limitation, in relation to system specifications, solar access and future retail electricity costs.

By Neil Dowling