Solar for Apartments on the Northern Beaches: How SoAR Covers Half the Cost for Strata Buildings

Solar has always been a harder proposition for the many unit blocks across Manly, Dee Why, Brookvale, Freshwater and the surrounding suburbs. A shared rooftop means a body corporate decision, a shared cost, and a system that has to work for a whole building rather than one household. The NSW Government's Solar for Apartment Residents (SoAR) program is aimed squarely at that problem, and it's worth knowing about if you're on a strata committee or simply live in a unit block.

What the SoAR program actually covers

SoAR covers 50% of the installation cost for solar systems on strata-managed buildings with shared rooftop space, up to a maximum of $150,000 per building. Applications are open now, with the current round closing on 4 December 2026. That's a meaningful subsidy for a category of building that's historically had very few solar incentives aimed at it specifically.

Why strata solar is worth the effort despite the extra process

Getting solar approved in a strata building means more steps than a standalone house: a proposal to the owners corporation, a vote, and usually some discussion about how the benefit gets shared, whether that's offsetting common property power (lifts, lighting, pumps) or a more complex arrangement for individual lots. It's genuinely more involved than a single-family home installation, and that complexity is a big part of why strata solar uptake has lagged behind standalone homes on the Northern Beaches, even in a region with strong solar adoption overall.

But the economics for a shared building can actually be very good, precisely because common property loads (lifts, corridor lighting, shared pumps, EV charging infrastructure) run during the day, which lines up well with solar generation. A subsidy covering half the installation cost changes the payback calculation significantly for a body corporate weighing up the proposal.

What we help with

We work with strata committees through the practical side of this: sizing a system appropriately for the building's common property loads, putting together the numbers a committee needs to bring to a vote, and managing the SoAR application itself alongside the installation. It's a different process to a residential quote, and having someone who's done it before matters when you're trying to get an owners corporation to say yes.

With the current SoAR round closing 4 December 2026, buildings that want to take advantage of this round need to get moving on a proposal well before then, since between committee discussion, a vote, and the application itself, it isn't something that comes together in a week.

On a strata committee considering solar for your building? Get in touch with Power & Solar Group and we'll help you put together a proposal your owners corporation can actually vote on.

Source: Northern Beaches Council.