Commercial Solar Installation
DJ Edwards Solar and Electrical; providing commercial solar installations across Brisbane, Gold Coast, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast
Commercial Solar Installation Brisbane | DJ Edwards Solar & Electrical
The phone call we get most often from Brisbane business owners goes something like this: "Our power bill just hit $8,000 for the quarter and I don't know what to do about it." We've heard it from café owners in West End, workshop operators in Wacol, and medical centre managers in Chermside. Energy costs are now one of the biggest line items on a commercial P&L — and for a lot of Brisbane businesses, it's a problem that's getting worse every year, not better.
Commercial solar installation in Brisbane isn't a new idea, but the economics of it have shifted dramatically in the last few years. Better panel efficiency, lower battery costs, and a commercial energy market that keeps pushing prices up have combined to make solar one of the most reliable investments a Queensland business can make right now. DJ Edwards has been designing and installing commercial solar systems across Brisbane and the Gold Coast since 1999 — and the conversations we're having with business owners today are very different to the ones we were having five years ago.
The phone call we get most often from Brisbane business owners goes something like this: "Our power bill just hit $8,000 for the quarter and I don't know what to do about it." We've heard it from café owners in West End, workshop operators in Wacol, and medical centre managers in Chermside. Energy costs are now one of the biggest line items on a commercial P&L — and for a lot of Brisbane businesses, it's a problem that's getting worse every year, not better.
Commercial solar installation in Brisbane isn't a new idea, but the economics of it have shifted dramatically in the last few years. Better panel efficiency, lower battery costs, and a commercial energy market that keeps pushing prices up have combined to make solar one of the most reliable investments a Queensland business can make right now. DJ Edwards has been designing and installing commercial solar systems across Brisbane and the Gold Coast since 1999 — and the conversations we're having with business owners today are very different to the ones we were having five years ago.
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What Commercial Solar Installation Actually Involves
The design phase is more complex
A lot of business owners assume commercial solar is just residential solar but bigger. It's not quite that simple — and understanding the differences helps you ask the right questions when you're getting quotes.
Network connection is more involved
Commercial systems above certain sizes require separate network applications, protection relays, and in some cases engineering sign-off before Energex will approve grid connection. DJ Edwards handles all of this in-house — we've been through the process hundreds of times and we know exactly what the network requires.
Structural considerations matter more
Commercial roofs — whether that's a Colorbond industrial shed, a flat membrane roof on a retail building, or a tiled office complex — all have different load ratings, drainage requirements, and penetration restrictions. We assess every roof before a panel goes up and won't install anything that compromises the building's integrity or its waterproofing warranty.
The design phase is more complex
commercial solar PV system needs to be designed around your business's actual load profile — meaning when you use power, how much you use, and what's driving the biggest consumption. Getting the design right around that profile is what separates a system that delivers genuine ROI from one that looks good on paper but underperforms in practice.
What Commercial Solar Saves Brisbane Businesses
A typical Brisbane small business using 80–120kWh per day think a small manufacturing unit, a busy restaurant, or a medium-sized retail store can expect to offset 60–80% of its daytime energy consumption with a well-designed 30–50kW solar system.
At current commercial electricity rates in Queensland of around 28–35 cents per kWh, that's a saving of $15,000 to $25,000 per year depending on usage.
Most commercial solar installations in this size range return their full investment in three to five years. After payback, the system generates essentially free daytime electricity for the remainder of its 25-year design life. The panels degrade at roughly 0.5% per year — meaning a well-specified system installed today will still be generating at 87% of its original output in 2050.
For larger commercial installations — 100kW and above — the savings scale accordingly. We've installed systems for Brisbane industrial clients in Rocklea and Acacia Ridge that are saving north of $60,000 per year in energy costs. Those systems paid for themselves in under four years.
The Queensland government's Business Energy Saving and Transformation program offers additional support for eligible businesses looking to reduce energy costs — worth checking before you commit to a system size.
Commercial Solar System Design
Every commercial solar installation DJ Edwards completes starts with a proper energy audit. We pull 12 months of interval data from your electricity retailer — this shows us exactly when your business uses power, down to 30-minute intervals throughout the day. That data drives everything.
From there, owner Dean personally assesses the site. He looks at available roof space, roof orientation and pitch, shading from neighbouring buildings or rooftop plant, structural capacity, and where the switchboard and main distribution board are located. All of this feeds into a custom system design — not a standard package, not a catalogue selection.
The system design determines panel layout, string configuration, inverter sizing, and whether a battery makes sense for your specific situation. For businesses that use a lot of power outside of daylight hours — hospitality venues, data centres, cold storage — battery storage can dramatically change the economics by capturing excess midday generation and deploying it during evening peak periods.
Commercial Solar and Battery Storage — The Business Case in 2026
Feed-in tariffs for commercial solar in Queensland are low — typically 5 to 8 cents per kWh for exported energy. Compare that to the 28–35 cents you're paying to buy power from the grid, and the maths strongly favours storing excess generation rather than exporting it.
Battery storage for commercial applications has reached a price point where it makes genuine financial sense for many Brisbane businesses. A commercial battery system paired with a solar installation allows you to:
Shift midday excess generation to your evening peak usage. Reduce or eliminate demand charges, which are often the most expensive component of a commercial electricity tariff. Provide backup power for critical loads during outages — increasingly important for businesses in Brisbane's storm-prone western and southern corridors. Potentially participate in demand response programs that pay you for making battery capacity available to the grid during peak periods.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation offers concessional finance for eligible commercial clean energy projects in Australia — including solar and battery storage installations — which can significantly improve the cash flow profile of a larger commercial investment.
Solar Rebates and Incentives for Brisbane Businesses
Commercial solar installations in Australia are eligible for Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) for systems up to 100kW, and Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs) for larger systems. These certificates reduce your upfront installation cost and are processed by DJ Edwards directly — you don't need to deal with the Clean Energy Regulator yourself.
The STC scheme reduces in value each year on a schedule running through to 2030, so the rebate available today is worth more than it will be next year. For a 30kW commercial system, the current STC value represents a meaningful reduction in the total installation cost.
Beyond STCs, businesses can generally claim solar system costs as a tax-deductible capital expense. Under the instant asset write-off provisions, eligible businesses may be able to write off the full cost of a solar installation in the year of purchase rather than depreciating it over time — which significantly improves the cash flow case for going solar. Check the ATO's current small business asset write-off thresholds with your accountant before making investment decisions.
Why Brisbane Businesses Choose DJ Edwards for Commercial Solar
There are plenty of commercial solar installers in Brisbane. Here's the honest difference with DJ Edwards.
We're small enough that owner Dean is personally involved in every commercial project from the initial site visit through to commissioning. You're not dealing with a sales rep who hands you off to an installation crew you've never met. You're dealing with the person who's been doing this since 1999 and whose name is on the business.
Every system we install is designed from scratch for the specific building and business. We don't have packages. We don't have standard configurations. We have a design process that starts with your energy data and your roof, and ends with a system that performs the way we said it would.
And when something needs attention — a year later, five years later — we're still here. Same phone number, same team. That matters more than most people think when they're making a 25-year investment.
Call DJ Edwards on 0400 571 610 for a free commercial solar assessment across Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
