Graph of the Day: The states enjoying record installations of rooftop solar

Last week we reported on the latest data on rooftop solar installations, with 250MW installed in September – the second highest ever – despite a steep fall in installations in Victoria due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

It’s worth taking another look at the data, because it highlights just how strong the market is across Australia. The fall in Victoria may have been sharp, but the gains in other states were also significant, and to record highs in states such as NSW, South Australia and Western Australia.

“This is an amazing result for September,” Green Energy Markets analyst Tristan Edis says.

“What makes these numbers staggering is that this result was achieved even though Victoria saw its installation levels plunge as a result of the Melbourne stage 4 Covid-19 lockdown where residential installations were effectively banned (see chart above).

“I am hearing from a few sources of Victorian installers being booked out until several months into next year so once the restrictions on installations are eased in Melbourne it seems quite possible we’ll break through 300 megawatts in a month.”

As rival analyst SunWiz noted last week, overall installations for the year to date are 40 per cent ahead of last year, and have nearly overtaken last year’s total. Another three months of strong installations, and the amount of rooftop solar installed in 2020 will likely break 3,000MW.

NSW leads the  uptake in 2020 and delivered a record high of 84MW in September, but the installations in South Australia are just as eye-catching, given the size of the population and the concern surrounding the new rules on inverter standards and protocols that will allow new installations to be switched off if needed to maintain grid security.