Australia adds another 60MW of rooftop solar in November

Australian households and businesses added another 60MW of rooftop solar in November, taking the overall figure for the year to date to 654MW.

Data released by industry analysts Green Energy Markets, shows Queensland still leading the market, but only just ahead of NSW – by 15.4MW to 15.3MW. Then followed Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia (see graph below).

The commercial sector continued to grow strongly, and now accounts for more than 27 per cent of total installations by capacity.

A total of 15.5MW of commercial scale rooftop solar – between 10kW and 100kW was installed in the month, with NSW leading this category with more than 5.2MW, followed by Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.

All told, businesses have added 143MW of rooftop solar capacity, nearly all of it for self consumption. About 510MW of rooftop solar capacity has been added to the rooftops of households in the year to date.

The GEM data also reveals an acceleration in larger solar systems by supermarkets, retailers, wineries, schools, administration centres and others  in recent months.

Lake Macquarie council has completed a 170kW systems, the Cootamundra Oil Seed Co has installed a 510kW system, Tyndall wineries has finished a 350kW ground mounted system, while Leeuwin Estates has installed a 150kW system.

Other new installations include a 151kW system on the Mater Dei School in NSW, a 100kW systems on BUPA’s Tamworth building, and a 510kW system in Carnavon in Western Australia.