Australian rooftop solar installations reached 92MW in March – as we noted on Friday – but the really interesting piece of data was the fact that it was the highest ever total for the March quarter, reflecting the urgency with which households and businesses are reacting to the prospect of even further rises in the cost of electricity from the fossil-fuel dominated grid.
According to industry statistician Sunwiz, March is the highest monthly total since August 2012, at the height of the premium feed in tariffs, and after a relatively strong January and February makes for a record March quarter total of 230MW.
Queensland again the led the way with 25MW of rooftop solar in the month of March, followed by NSW with 21MW and South Australia and Western Australia with 17MW each.
“There are smiles across the faces of solar business owners across the entire nation,” says Sunwiz director Warwick Johnston. “Volumes have almost doubled compared to March 2016.”
Of particular note was the performance of Australia’s only module manufacturer, Tindo Solar, which broke into the top 10 overall suppliers and the top 5 in the commercial sector. The company was recently bought by installation company Cool & Cosy, with big plans for the future.
Australia now has a total of 5.58GW of rooftop solar (installation under 100kW), from 1.67 million homes and businesses.
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