Installations of small scale rooftop solar in Australia equalled its record monthly level of 180MW in September, with New South Wales just pipping Queensland to be the strongest market in the country.
The latest data released by SunWiz shows the boom in small-scale rooftop solar (up to 100kW) continues in 2019, with year to date reaching 1.5GW and running nearly 40 per cent ahead of last year, and poised to break the 2GW barrier for the calendar year.
NSW was the strongest market with 49MW, followed by Queensland with 48MW and Victoria – now under a strict supply quota thanks to that state’s added solar rebate – standing at 34MW. The came W.A. with 21MW and South Australia with 20MW.
All told, the level of sub-100kW rooftop solar installations in Australia has now reached 9.5GW, across 2.2 million systems, mostly on household rooftops but also on many small businesses.
SunWiz director Warwick Johnston expects the 180MW figure for September could be revised downwards slightly, pending audits from the Clean Energy Regulator.
But he also notes that the commercial market has come off the boil in most states, apart from W.A which is the only commercial market showing growth in the latest month.
The biggest capacity range by far was the 6.3kW to 8kW installation, which accounted for nearly half of all installations (80MW).
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of One Step Off The Grid, and also edits and founded Renew Economy and The Driven. He has been a journalist for 35 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.
