Risen Australia achieves 120 MW of rooftop panel sales in a year

Share

Driven by high electricity prices and falling costs of solar, Australia’s rooftop solar sector keeps on growing at an unprecedented pace. As many module manufacturers try to secure a slice of the cake, Chinese PV panel maker Risen Energy has emerged among the leading market players on the back of unprecedented sales volumes.

Risen Energy Australia has announced that it has achieved 120 MW of rooftop panels sales in the last 12 months, which translates into the highest jump in sales in a one-year period for the company. The manufacturer describes this result as a phenomenal outcome, considering that it only achieved 1 MW of module sales in 2014, and 20 MW of sales for the same period last year, from August 2017 to August 2018.

According to the company, Risen currently ranks third in the rooftop PV distribution market, accounting for approximately 10% of Australia’s rooftop market. “There is an expectation that this number will grow at a rapid rate in the following years,” Risen said in a release.

“Given our huge sales growth the past year, we are confident that we will continue to grow not just in the upcoming years, but in the long run as well”, said Eric Lee, General Manager of Risen Australia.

Indeed, as Australians continue to install solar panels in droves, much higher penetration is expected in the years ahead. According to AEMO’s Integrated System Plan, the National Electricity Market – Australia’s main grid covering the eastern and southeastern states – will host between 21 GW and 56 GW of rooftop PV capacity by 2040. This will result in the annual output of 31-50 TWh, which would make rooftop solar the biggest generation capacity technology on the NEM. 

Large-scale plans

According to Lee, Risen also plans to invest in renewable energy projects with the accumulated capacity in excess of 2 GW in Australia and to continue to expand in the energy storage sector. Last year, the company increased its renewable target in Australia from 1 GW stated earlier to over 2 GW of projects that it will be looking to acquire in stages. “We will be acquiring projects that are shovel ready, projects that are looking for financial and/or EPC partner, projects that are looking for a co-developer,” John Zhong, Project Development & Investment Director, Risen Energy Australia, said at the time.

Risen has been bullish on going merchant on its large-scale solar projects in Australia. The company decided to go fully merchant on the 121 MW Yarranlea Solar Farm in Queensland, which is advancing rapidly towards completion expected later this year. Risen’s second project in Australia, the 132 MW Merredin Solar Farm is under construction. Risen will also initially go merchant on Merredin, which will be the biggest solar project in Western Australia once constructed.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.