Graph of the Day: Breakdown of Australia’s two million solar homes

Earlier this week we brought you news that there are now two million homes and businesses in Australia with rooftop solar installed. That means 20 per cent of all homes now have their own power source.

Today, we include this graphic from the Clean Energy Regulator, which confirms that the thresh-hold has been breached. It’s important to note that this data refers only to those system below 100kW, and which are installed under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme.

CER General Manager Michelle Crosbie says this milestone has cemented Australia’s position as a world leader in rooftop solar PV investment, and one interesting thing to note is the increased take up by small businesses, where installations have nearly double to 16,596 this year from 9,663 in total in 2017.

Overall, Queensland leads with 592,218 installations, followed by New South Wales 449,577 and Victoria with 371,966.

“Annually, 13.3 million megawatt hours of electricity is produced or displaced under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme with 73 per cent generated by solar PV installations,” Ms Crosbie said.

Crosbie said consumers thinking of installing a solar PV system to do their research and check with their retailer that the solar panels are approved by the Clean Energy Council, are a genuine product that meet Australian Standards and have a warranty that they can trust.

“The Clean Energy Regulator and the solar industry developed the Solar Panel Validation Initiative to protect consumers by providing installers, retailers, agents and manufacturers an easy way to check and confirm that solar panels are genuine,” Crosbie said.