Graph of the Day: Australia’s strongest (and weakest) solar suburbs

Published by

Would the people of Salisbury, South Australia, please stand up. New data from solar installer Energy Matters has found that the unassuming suburb 25km north of Adelaide was highest adopter of solar among Australia’s capital cities in 2013, adding just over 2000 new rooftop PV installations over the year and saving more than $3.8 million in the first year of installation.

As the table below shows, the 2013 effort by Salisbury puts it in third place for total solar penetration, behind the Perth suburb of Mandurah (46%) and, in number one position, Brisbane’s Browns Plains (51%). (click on image to enlarge)

Click on image to enlarge

Interestingly, Sydney – where the feed-in tariff for rooftop solar PV remained comparatively high – is lagging far behind the rest of Australia in the solar adoption stakes, with its highest adopting suburb for 2013, Campbelltown, installing only 639 PV systems for the year.

Melbourne also appears to be straggling, with its highest-adopting suburb, Wyndham, reaching a total penetration of only 22 per cent after adding 1280 systems in 2013.

But the worst performer, according to the data, was Greater Sydney’s Kogarah/Rockdale, with only 128 new solar installations in 2013, and a installed rooftop PV penetration of 6 per cent.

According to Energy Matters, those remaining 94 per cent of Kogarah/Rockdale residents who didn’t install a solar system on their roofs have collectively missed out on $602,000 in energy bill savings in the first year.

Sophie Vorrath

Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

Wind developer signs community benefit deals worth up to $160m to end stalemate over called-in projects

UK developer and local council sign community benefit deals for two projects stuck in limbo…

15 October 2026

Grid-scale renewables hit record levels of investment sign-offs, but the pace still needs to quicken

A record amount of large-scale renewable generation has reached financial close, the federal government says,…

15 October 2026

China’s Envision Energy lines up major wind and eight-hour battery deal at site of Australian mineral sands mine

China's Envision lines up its first wind and battery deal at a new energy park…

15 October 2026

Labor waves through Australia’s biggest wind farm – a project “not possible” under state Coalition buffer policy

Final all-clear for huge wind and battery project comes just in the nick of time,…

15 October 2026

High Court coal mine ruling factors in exported emissions. Why isn’t federal Labor doing the same?

The Albanese government is making great strides on clean energy, while at the same time…

15 October 2026

The hidden transition: Businesses are quietly dumping gas for electric in big shift to industrial heat pumps

Slow grind of getting commercial, industrial businesses off gas is accelerating, a new report says.

15 October 2026