Australia’s world-leading rooftop solar market is feeling the effect of the home battery rush, with installations lagging well behind levels recorded this time last year – and little sign of a turnaround in sight.
According to SunWiz, a total of 206 megawatts (MW) of new rooftop solar capacity was registered nationwide in August, harking back to levels not seen since 2022 and setting the market 15 per cent behind this time last year.
Source: SunWiz
“The national market recorded went downwards again as consumers directed their money towards batteries and retailers’ sales efforts followed,” said SunWiz managing director Warwick Johnston in SunWiz’s latest market update.
“Faced with the opportunity to make a larger sale from storage, following years of declining PV revenues, retailers are making the most of the[Energy Storage System} opportunity.”
Johnston says this trend is borne out by a changing of the guard in PV system sales for the quarter, as long-standing market leaders turn their focus to batteries and newcomers – including companies specialising in new-build installs – dominating the market in the third quarter of 2025.
On a state-by-state basis, the steepest drop in rooftop solar installs has been in the three states where the federal Cheaper Home Batteries rebate has seen the biggest uptake.
In NSW, which still topped the charts for installations, added a total of 58 MW of new capacity in August 2025, down from 64 MW in July.
Queensland added 55 MW of new rooftop PV installations, down from 60 MW in July, while Victoria managed a slight jump with 44 MW in August, up from 43 MW in July.
SunWiz says the 20-30kW segment led growth in August, rising to 12MW from 11MW in July, while the 15-20kW bracket held steady at 6 MW and the 8-10kW and 10-15kW brackets dropped out of the leading entirely.
Notably, however, a newcomer to the top three biggest segments for the month was the 0-2.5kW segment, which could suggest small amounts of solar being added to existing systems for households installing batteries.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
