A roof under 100 kW can fall under the mid-scale certificate rules if a related system pushes the total over - ten shops on one street meter can stay separate, and a 10 MW job cannot claim the first megawatt in stages
The Clean Energy Regulator updated its small, mid and large solar page on 30 October 2026. Total capacity includes related solar on the same site or an adjoining site. Related turns on location, ownership, the wiring, the meters and the network connection. One street meter does not decide it. Certificates on an expansion cover only the capacity added on or after 1 October 2026. A related total over 1 MW is off the small-scale scheme. Applications are still marked for mid to late November.
A factory that already has panels, and wants another row, now has a public test for which certificate paper that row sits on. The test is the combined size of the roofs the regulator treats as one system. The size of the new row alone is not the test.
The Clean Energy Regulator's page, last updated 30 October 2026, sets three bands. Small-scale is a total of 100 kW or less, including related solar. Mid-scale is more than 100 kW and up to 1 MW, installed on or after 1 October 2026, and the total includes related solar and any related power station. Over 1 MW, the job is a large-scale power station. Small-scale and mid-scale create small-scale technology certificates, a certificate for deemed generation, paid up front. Large-scale creates large-scale generation certificates, a certificate for electricity the plant actually makes. The deeming period on the page's table is the years left until 2030 for small-scale, and a fixed five years for mid-scale, each year out to 2030.
Related is the word that moves a job between bands. The page says solar installations can be related where they work as one generation arrangement. The factors are location, ownership, electrical configuration, metering and network connections. Same site or an adjoining site can be related even when the install dates differ. One National Metering Identifier, the meter identity at the street connection, does not by itself make several roofs one system. A commercial sub-meter, a meter behind that connection that records one tenant's use for a bill between unrelated parties, can be part of the boundary. Separate meters, separate street connections and different dates do not automatically make the roofs separate either.
The page prints pictures. Ten shops in one complex each install 30 kW. Each has its own commercial sub-meter. All of them use one street meter. They are not wired together behind those sub-meters. The page says the sub-meters set the boundary, the systems are not related, and each one stays small-scale. It prints the combined figure, 300 kW, and says that combined figure is not the test. Four shops each install 60 kW, same pattern, and two of them are wired together behind their commercial meters. Those two are related. The page calls the pair 120 kW and a mid-scale device. The other two stay separate small-scale systems.
An extension under 100 kW can still be mid-scale. The page says extra panels can create certificates where the related total stays inside the scheme limit. The new row can sit under 100 kW on its own. It counts as one system with the old roof where they are electrically connected, the combined capacity is over 100 kW and not over 1 MW, and the other eligibility lines are met. Certificates cover the capacity added on or after 1 October 2026. They do not cover the original panels. A project over the limit does not become eligible by being built or claimed in smaller stages.
A power station already in the large-scale scheme stays there and can keep creating large-scale certificates. Its kilowatts still count toward the 1 MW cap if it is related, which the page ties to solar on the same site or an adjoining site. It stays on its own meter if it is to keep those certificates. One of the worked pictures is a dairy processor: a new 500 kW array, an existing related 100 kW small-scale system, and a related 400 kW power station. The page says that new array is mid-scale because the related total "remains below 1,000 kW". 500 plus 100 plus 400 is 1,000, by our arithmetic. Elsewhere the same page says mid-scale runs up to 1 MW and "does not exceed" 1 MW, and a separate 1,000 kW farm picture is inside the band. The dairy picture's word is "below". The sum of the three figures it prints is not below 1,000. The page does not show the addition.
The next picture on that dairy path is the one that falls off. A new 500 kW array, a related 100 kW system and a related 600 kW power station. The page says the new array is not a small generation unit because the related total exceeds 1,000 kW. It says the extra capacity might be folded into the accredited power station by varying that accreditation, depending on the metering, and generation from the extra might create large-scale certificates. A plant that already created certificates on 1,000 kW, then adds 500 kW, is in the same place: the extra is not a small generation unit. It might be a new power station if it is metered on its own.
A 10 MW array does not get to take the first megawatt as mid-scale. The page's picture is a developer building 10,000 kW to export. Planning papers show one 10 MW project. The page says it cannot be installed in smaller stages to claim certificates for the first 1,000 kW. Five adjoining sites with a 1 MW array on the first, then more arrays next door, each with its own street connection and no electrical tie to the first, can still be related. The page says the first array is related where the systems meet three or more of the criteria in regulation 3(3)(d). Further arrays would push the related total over 1 MW and would not be small generation units.
The paperwork is heavier on mid-scale, and lighter on two signatures. The page's table says an installer statement is required. A designer accreditation is not required. A retailer statement is not required. Extra planning and approval evidence is required. Applications for these certificates are still marked as opening mid to late November 2026. That queue was already on the September note. This page is the boundary test that note did not carry.
No battery on this page. None of the twelve pictures names a battery size, a battery discount, or a battery as part of the kilowatt test. The kilowatts in the test are the panels. A Western Australian factory loan that names batteries, and tells the applicant to show these certificates inside the quote, is a different sheet, filed here as the 3% loan note.
Analogy: the street meter is the front door. The wires behind the shop meters are the internal walls. Two shops tied together behind those meters are one system on this page. Two shops that only share the front door can stay two systems. The page prints both floor plans.
Good: A dated regulator page, a table, and worked pictures a buyer can point at, including the ten-shop split and the bar on staging a 10 MW job.
Bad: The dairy picture says "below 1,000 kW" for three figures that add to 1,000. Applications are still closed until mid to late November. This page prints no dollar value for a certificate. It prints no battery rule.
Ugly: Treating every shop as separate because they share one street meter. Treating two shops wired together behind the meters as two small systems. Slicing a 10 MW project into megawatt claims. Counting the old panels again when only the new row is inside the 1 October window. Reading the dairy picture's "below" as if 500, 100 and 400 summed to less than 1,000.
Soft next step: draw the wires and the meters for each roof before the quote names small-scale or mid-scale.
Source: Clean Energy Regulator, last updated 30 Oct 2026 - Understanding small-scale, mid-scale and large-scale solar PV systems. Primary for the three bands, the 1 October 2026 install date for mid-scale, related capacity including related power stations, the five factors, same-site and adjoining-site rules across different install dates, a single National Metering Identifier not deciding the boundary, commercial sub-meters as one factor, the meter definitions, certificates on an expansion limited to capacity added on or after 1 October 2026, the bar on staging a project over the limit, the deeming periods in the table, installer statement required for mid-scale, designer accreditation and retailer statement not required, extra planning evidence for mid-scale, applications opening mid to late November 2026, and scenarios 3 (ten stores, 30 kW, combined 300 kW, not related), 4 (four stores, 60 kW, two electrically connected, 120 kW mid-scale), 6 (dairy, 500 kW plus a related 100 kW system plus a related 400 kW power station, described as remaining below 1,000 kW), 7 (500 kW plus 100 kW plus 600 kW, over the limit), 8 (1,000 kW already on certificates, then 500 kW, not a small generation unit), 9 (a 1,000 kW farm inside mid-scale where nothing related pushes it over), 10 (10,000 kW, no staged claim on the first 1,000 kW) and 11 (adjacent sites, three or more criteria under regulation 3(3)(d)). 500 + 100 + 400 = 1,000 is our arithmetic. The page does not print that sum. The page also says mid-scale is up to 1 MW and does not exceed 1 MW. It does not reconcile "below" in scenario 6 with that line.