Australia installs 98MW rooftop solar in August – soaring above 6GW total

Australian homes and businesses installed a total of 98MW of rooftop solar in August, delivering one of the strongest months on record, extending a record level for the year-to-date, and taking Australia’s grand total of small scale rooftop PV above the 6GW milestone.

According to the latest monthly data from industry analysts SunWiz, the rooftop solar “installation party” is still well underway, and its happening in all states of Australia, simultaneously, with the exception of WA.

“Our Tally is currently sitting at 6.5GW of PV, with 6GW of that being sub-100kW,” the SunWiz Australian PV Market Insights report for August says.

“August 2017 was the biggest ever August for registration volume,” the report says. “We remain 47 per cent ahead of the same time last year, and this continues to be the best ever start to the year,” putting the market three months ahead of both 2015 and 2016.

The report notes that the month saw a recovery in commercial capacity in each of the key categories (other than the top 10-20kW category which was constant). The total proportion of the market that is commercial eased back in WA, it notes, while in Victoria it has grown to a market leading 40 per cent.

In New South Wales, August continues the state’s best ever start to a second half, with total installed volume for the month climbing to 24MW, not far off its peak ‘ever’ volume. Growth is coming in the commercial 50-75kW bracket, the report says.

In Queensland, the volume recovered to 26MW, with an increasing share in the 6-10kW segment putting the Sunshine State 58 per cent ahead of the YTD for the same time last year.

Victoria climbed to 18MW, and continued strong growth in commercial PV volume to now represent 40 per cent of total volume, an noted above. The state’s 75-100kW segment is leading the way, says the report, and has boosted the average solar system size to 6.8kW.

South Australia installed a total of 9MW, at a steady average system size, putting the state 42 per cent ahead of YTD last year.

In Western Australia, volume reached 16MW, giving the state its best ever monthly volumes and best ever year to date. WA is 52 per cent ahead of last year’s figures.

On the recent fall in STC prices, SunWiz says this will affect all systems equally, “meaning cheaper priced systems face a greater percentage price increase, which should narrow the percentage price gap with high quality systems.

“Countering this is the ‘what I can afford for a fixed budget’ which will push people further towards cheaper (or smaller) systems,” the report says.