The market for residential PV suffered a sustained contraction over the period 2013-2016, falling by 41 per cent in three years. Things would have been much worse for the Australian solar industry had the commercial market not being growing at a rapid rate, which softened the blow.
Though the market set a new overall record in 2017, residential volumes still remained below their peak that year. It was only in 2018 that the residential PV market eclipsed its previous record.
Notwithstanding the 2018 commercial market grew more in percentage terms than the residential market, its still worth celebrating the residential revival illustrated in the chart beneath.
On an annual basis, Queensland and South Australia still fell short of their own residential record volume, but the combined contribution of all states made 2018 a record haul for the national residential tally.
The chart below shows the residential volume for each state on a monthly basis. You can see the downwards slide experienced by QLD, VIC, and NSW over the period 2014-2015.
The residential market steadied in 2016, but growth really kicked off in late 2016 and accelerated in 2017.
The most noteworthy feature of the chart, however, is the kick-up in residential volume in Victoria in October 2018 – the clear effect of the Victorian subsidy.
Overnight, Victorian residential PV volume leapt to match that of NSW and QLD.
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