Solar

Rooftop solar market rebounds in June to post second best month on record

Published by

2 July 2020 12:47 PM

The Australian rooftop solar market rebounded in June, after three months of declining installations blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic, and posted the second highest monthly figures for small-scale rooftop solar on record – 237MW.

The data was released by industry statistician Sunwiz, with director Warwick Johnston notice that the market has offset May’s contraction and is ahead of February’s figures.

“It’s the second best month on record but we’re still behind March’s peak, which leaves you wondering where the market could have been,” he said.

But he also noted that the market was still 38 per cent ahead of where it was at the same time last year.

Again, NSW led the market with a new record monthly volume for any state, with 73MW, followed by Queensland (62MW) and Victoria (47MW).

The rate of installs was relatively static in other states, including South Australia (23MW) and Western Australia (25MW), where the market operator is worried about the impact on “minimum demand” and is proposing new standards and protocols that will allow it to “manage” rooftop solar output, including stopping exports at rate times that the network is at risk.

Johnston says the commercial market that is most interesting, especially in Queensland and NSW, and particularly in the 75-100kW range. “You have to wonder whether some businesses are making use of the instant tax write off offered by the COVID stimulus,” Johnston said.

Giles Parkinson

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of the EV-focused The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. Giles has been a journalist for 40 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.