Rooftop solar keeps bouncing back, as households pile on the panels

Australian homes and businesses installed a total of 271MW of new rooftop solar capacity in March, just 5 per cent more than the 259MW installed in February, buy 20 per cent ahead of the national tally at the same time last year.

The latest rooftop solar data from industry analysts SunWiz shows a market that is continuing to build up momentum after a slightly shaky start with a small market contraction in January.

The data shows that the March 2023 volumes beat out the same month over the past three previous years, except for 2021.

SunWiz managing director Warwick Johnston says most states and territories, with the notable exception of Victoria, charted an increase in volumes to varying degrees, with New South Wales and Queensland leading the way.

These two states, both of which have been hit the hardest by the rise in wholesale electricity prices across Australia, charted an 8% (NSW) and 10% (Qld) increase in volumes over the month, contributing the most to the national March total.

Similarly, there was growth across almost all segment volumes, with a more notable jump in commercial installs sized between 50-75kW, as businesses work to shield themselves from rising energy costs.

The average system size that households are installing on their rooftops also continues to grow, with a slight increase in March to 8.9kW.