Households and businesses are leading Australia’s race to renewables and electrification

Australian households and small businesses are leading the renewable energy charge, installing 3.1GW of rooftop solar capacity during 2023 and accounting for 60 per cent of all new renewable capacity in the past year.

According to new figures published by the Clean Energy Regulator’s (CER) latest Quarterly Carbon Market Report (QCMR), there were 331,000 new rooftop solar installations in 2023 at a record average capacity of 9kW.

In total, 3.1GW of new rooftop capacity was installed throughout 2023, compared to 2.8GW in 2022, an increase of 10% and marking the second highest annual capacity installed, just shy of the 3.2GW installed in 2021.

The CER says a new record may be set in 2024 for additional rooftop solar capacity as households and businesses continue to take control of their energy bills.

Energy efficient air source heat pumps are also being installed at record rates, with 135,000 installed in 2023 – an increase of 55% over 2022.

CER chair David Parker said 2023 was the 6th year in a row where Australia added more than 5 GW of renewable capacity, but the amount of large scale renewables installed in 2023 fell significantly to 2.2 GW from 2.8 GW a year earlier.

A total of 2.2GW worth of new large-scale renewable energy was installed in 2023, down from 2.8GW in 2022 – although the CER said there is 6.5 GW of capacity under construction at the end of 2023.

It said a slowdown in financing in 2023 – with  just 1.5 GW reaching a final investment decision during the year – is likely to be reversed in 2024 as the federal government’s new Capacity Investment Scheme drives new investment decisions.

Renewables accounted for an average of 39% of generation in the National Electricity Market in 2023, and is expected to increase to about 42% in 2024.