Clean energy,
without the capital outlay

Energy is one of the largest and most volatile operating costs a business carries, yet most organisations have historically had only one lever to pull: negotiate harder with their retailer. The structural fall in solar and battery costs over the past decade has changed that equation entirely. In 2026 a well-structured behind-the-meter solar system consistently delivers electricity at a lower levellised cost than grid retail — and a range of financing mechanisms now exist to capture that advantage without touching the capital budget or adding debt to the balance sheet.

The right structure depends on factors that vary by business type: whether you own or lease the premises, your tax position and depreciation appetite, the strength of your balance sheet, and how long you plan to occupy the site. Zenith's finance team works through each of these before recommending a path, because a PPA that suits a long-term owner-occupier can be the wrong instrument for a tenant with a five-year lease — and vice versa.

Financing structures available

• Behind-the-meter PPA — Zenith owns and operates the system; you buy the output at a fixed or indexed $/kWh rate below your retail tariff
• Operating lease — fixed monthly payment for use of the system; asset stays off your balance sheet, you retain the energy savings
• Green loan — you own the system from day one; financed at preferential rates through Clean Energy Finance Corporation-backed lenders
• Chattel mortgage or hire purchase — capital ownership with tax depreciation benefits; suits businesses with strong profitability to shelter
• Government grant co-funding — where eligible, grant proceeds reduce the financed amount, improving payback for all structures
• Hybrid models — split between partial capex contribution and a residual PPA, balancing ownership upside against cashflow certainty

How a behind-the-meter PPA works

Under a Zenith behind-the-meter PPA, we finance, install and maintain a solar or solar-plus-battery system on your premises at our cost. You sign a contract — typically ten to twenty years — to purchase the electricity the system generates at a rate fixed below your current retail tariff. From the first day of operation your grid consumption falls, your energy bill falls, and you carry no ownership risk: if a panel underperforms, an inverter fails or the system needs upgrading, that is our responsibility.

The contracted rate is either fixed or subject to a modest annual escalator — typically CPI or a fraction of it — which insulates your energy cost from the retail price spikes that have characterised the National Electricity Market. At contract end you can extend the agreement, purchase the system at its residual value, or have it removed at no cost. For businesses that are energy-intensive but capital-constrained — manufacturers, cold-storage operators, hospitality groups, health services — this structure consistently delivers material bill reductions with zero upfront exposure.

Payback versus cashflow: choosing the right frame

Outright purchase almost always delivers the strongest long-run return: the system is an asset you own, the savings are yours in full, and the payback period for a well-designed commercial system in 2026 typically sits between four and seven years against a remaining useful life of twenty-five-plus. If your business has the capital and the appetite to own infrastructure, that is usually the right answer and we will say so plainly.

Where a financed structure makes sense, the evaluation frame shifts from payback to cashflow. The question becomes: does the monthly saving on my energy bill exceed the monthly finance or PPA payment from day one? For most sites with good solar resource and bills above $3,000 per month, the answer is yes — the structure is cashflow-positive immediately, which means it is financially justified without a payback calculation at all. We model both frames in every proposal so you and your CFO can evaluate on whichever basis is most relevant to your organisation.