Rooftop solar boom marches on, as NSW surges ahead

One Step Off The Grid

The boom in rooftop solar installations in Australia continues, with a new monthly record rate of 131.7MW recorded in May, according to the latest data from industry statistician SunWiz.

The two graphs above show the steady increase throughout 2018, arrested only by a fall in April due to a confluence of public holidays, while the inset (black line) shows how the installation rate has overtaken that boosted six years ago by generous premium feed in tariffs.

NSW led the surge in May, posting a record monthly install of 39MW.

It easily beat the next best Queensland (32MW), which remains the state with the largest amount of solar (more than 2GW) although it has ceded the 2018 leadership position to its southern neighbour.

Victoria also recorded a record monthly installation rate of 25MW in May, while South Australia also recovered part of the ground lost in April and posted a figure of 13.5MW, although it still trailed W.A. with 17MW.

Australia so far in 2018 has installed 584MW of rooftop solar, about as much as was installed in the first 10 months of both 2015 and 2016.

Analysts notes that more households and more businesses seek to reduce the cost of grid electricity, and as more prepare for battery storage and even the expected uptake in coming years of electric vehicles.

This article was originally published on RenewEconomy’s sister site, One Step Off The Grid, which focuses on customer experience with distributed generation. To sign up to One Step’s free weekly newsletter, please click here.