NSW businesses lead Australian demand for commercial rooftop solar

Business in New South Wales are leading the charge into commercial solar PV – the big new growth area for the technology – as the state cements its position as the largest market for rooftop solar in the country.

The latest data from Green Energy Markets shows that NSW retained its position as the biggest market for solar PV in the month of March, following its return to that position in February for the first time since 2011. Queensland led the market in between and retains the largest aggregate installations.

In the month of March, NSW installed 19.4MW of rooftop solar, beating Queensland (18MW) for the second month in a row, with Victoria coming a close third with 16.3MW. Both Western Australia and South Australia are heading for total of 80MW to 90MW for the calendar year, continuing their high rate of rooftop solar penetration.

However, NSW is dominating in the category of commercial-scale rooftop solar, as this graph below indicates.

Over the March quarter, NSW had the highest commercial installed capacity during the quarter with 16MW. This was almost twice the level of the next highest state, Victoria, which installed 8.7MW.

In NSW, commercial scale solar approaches around one third of installed new capacity, while in Victoria and South Australia it accounts for just under one quarter of installations.

And the trend appears to be accelerating in NSW, with 260 commercial premises adding rooftop solar in March, 617 in the quarter, and 2,245 in the last 12 months.