Rooftop solar market bounces back to record high, continues to crunch coal

A total of 279 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar was registered last month, marking the best October on record and putting the market back on track to equal or beat last year’s total of just under 3 gigawatts.

The latest data from industry analyst SunWiz shows the national market for rooftop PV bouncing back in October, after two months in the doldrums.

The latest jump in installation numbers demonstrates that the consumer march to renewable energy generation is not slowing down, as more and more households seek to slash their energy bills with solar.

The jump in installation numbers puts national market volumes up by 6 per cent on September and 4 per cent ahead of the year-to-date figures from the same time last year.

SunWiz managing director Warwick Johnston says the change in direction of the “solar coaster” has largely been driven by Victoria, where a 10% jump in volumes accounts for the “lion’s share” of the monthly national increase.

“October 2024 the market improved after two months of easing,” Johnston says in the SunWiz monthly market update.

“Monthly figures are now above the straight-line average, with the overall trend being up.”

Johnston says that while Victoria led the market jump, most state volumes also continued improving over October, with the exception of South Australia.

But South Australia has been busy setting its own records with rooftop solar generation, where it reached a stunning new high of 112.9 per cent of state electricity demand at one point last month.

The new record was reached, according to data provider GPE NEMLog, at 1.15pm (AEST) on Saturday October 19, and easily beat the previous record of 101.8 per cent that was set on New Year’s Eve in 2023.

The average rooftop solar system size also increased in October, moving up slightly to 10.23kW – the second-
highest month in recent times, according to SunWiz.

Of the rooftop solar system size groupings, almost all segments improved on their September figures, with the 15-30kW range showing strong growth.

Sophie Vorrath

Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.