Sunshine State milestone as Queenslanders install one million solar rooftops

Data from the Clean Energy Regulator shows Queensland has hit a huge milestone in 2023 – hitting one million rooftop solar installations since records began, beating out every other state in the country.

The closest competitor is New South Wales with 945,000 overall installations. While Victoria has installed 59,000 this year, and 724,800 overall.

Stephanie Gray, from the Queensland Conservation Council, says that this is a testament to smart government rebates to drive down the price of the technology.

“Rooftop solar plays a very important role in Queensland’s energy mix now with an impressive 5.9 GW of installed capacity – that’s three and a half times the capacity of Queensland’s largest coal-fired power station,” she said.

“Solar in Australia is a success story that demonstrates the power that governments have to make clean technology more accessible to all.”

The Clean Energy Regulator data begins back in 2001, and Queensland is likely ahead of NSW due to a large spike in instillations in 2011. There was an impressive solar scheme set up in the state a few years earlier.

However, NSW will likely overtake Queensland in the next few years, as they regularly outcompete Queensland for yearly instillations.

Queensland last year installed 75,643 solar systems, while NSW installed 97,655.

In total, at the end of 2023 Queensland has clocked in just under 1,004,000 instillations.

Energy Queensland have recently announced the installation of 29 ‘solar soaker’ batteries to use some of this solar. This recently announced initiative includes two locally sourced flow batteries, as well as 4MW/8MWh network connected ‘community-scale’ batteries.

However, there’s still much more to be done. In the last 12 months, just 10% of Queensland’s energy was produced by solar power. To get to net zero, researchers suggest Australia would need 100 times the amount of solar and wind that we currently have.

And those that are least likely to have rooftop solar are those who might need cheaper the energy bills that come with it the most.

A survey of 4,200 Queenslanders in 2023 called the Queensland Household Energy Survey found that 59% of all homeowners had solar, but only 14% of renters.  The same survey found the main reason for not purchasing solar (46%) was that the occupants were renting.

Over the last few months, multiple states and territories around the country have set up funds with the government to install rooftop solar, and other energy efficiency upgrades into public and social housing. Queensland has not yet jumped on board.

“We’ve just seen the Australian Government work with the NSW Government to announce $200 million to upgrade social housing and help tenants access affordable solar energy,” said Gray.

“We’d like to see the Australian Government work with the Queensland Government so Queenslanders get our fair share and policies are implemented to help all households, including renters and social housing tenants, slash bills with solar and energy efficiency upgrades.”