Australia now has more than 9GW of small scale rooftop solar

Australia has broken through another key milestone in small-scale rooftop solar capacity, with 9GW now installed across the country and the 10GW mark likely to be broken by the end of the calendar year.

According to the latest data from Sunwiz, Australia added 156MW of small scale rooftop solar capacity (systems of less than 100kW) in the month of June, taking the year to date total to nearly 1GW, and the grand total to 9.04GW.

“We are about to cross the 1GW threshold for the sub-100kW market, so we’re on track for a 2GW year,” says Sunwiz director Warwick Johnston.

There are now small-scale rooftop solar installations on more than 2.16 million homes and small businesses, with Queensland still leading the country on capacity with 2.6GW installed, but with NSW at 2.08GW and Victoria at 1.77GW.

Western Australia and South Australia have 1.1GW and 1.09GW respectively, but because of the relatively small sizes of their grids are facing increasing challenges to integrate the rising contribution of rooftop solar, with the Australian Energy Market Operator and network owners looking to develop strategies for decentralised energy system.

See our story: Rooftop solar throws massive curve ball to world’s most isolated grid

In the latest month, Sunwiz says that installations have returned to record levels in NSW and Queensland, tied for the month at 44MW, but Victoria fell sharply, by 33 per cent to 29MW, because the quota for the state government subsidy expired early.

Installations are expected to resume their trajectory as the state-scheme reboots, with Sophie Vorrath writing last week that the July quota was met within three days of the start of the month.

Johnston also noted that the 10kW to 20kW installation range was at record levels, indicating growing uptake by small business, which is showing growth in all sectors as household uptake slows slightly.