Rooftop solar on the rise in Australia’s clean energy mix

A new report from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) reveals that more than 20 GW of small-scale solar has been installed across Australia with rooftop PV now the second largest generation source in Australia’s clean energy mix, edged out only by wind energy.

The Rooftop Solar and Storage Report, developed with data provided by solar consultancy SunWiz, shows rooftop solar is now the fourth-largest source of electricity generation in Australia, providing about 11.2% of the country’s power supply in 2023, eclipsing the 10% mark for the first time.

“The sheer scale and pace of rooftop solar in Australia is unparalleled anywhere else in the world,” CEC Distributed Energy Policy Director Con Hristodoulidis said.

​“Last year saw 2.9 GW of new capacity installed from 314,507 units, marking the second-biggest year for the uptake of rooftop solar, solidifying its position as the second-largest source of renewable generation and the fourth-largest source of all electricity generation in Australia.”

While the installation figures fell just shy of the 315,753 rooftop systems deployed in 2022, the installed capacity was up 3.6% on the 2.8 GW rolled out that year.

The CEC attributed the capacity increase to the growth in the size of the average rooftop system which increased to a record 9.4 kW in 2023, up from 7.10 kW five years ago and 4.2 kW a decade ago.

Records were also set at the state level with New South Wales notching a new high for annual installed capacity of any state with 970 MW of new rooftop solar installed in the calendar year. Queensland and Victoria came in second and third place respectively with annual installed capacities of 751 MW and 571 MW while Queensland became the first state to be home to more than one million rooftop solar installations.

​ While rooftop solar is becoming an increasingly important element of Australia’s clean energy mix, Hristodoulidis expects rooftop solar to soar to new heights in the wake of recent federal government announcements designed to grow solar manufacturing in Australia.

“The recent announcement by the federal government of the $1 billion Solar Sunshot manufacturing support program is a positive sign for future progress, as we leverage world-leading research and innovation to make more solar products right here in Australia,” he said.

The Solar Sunshot program, one of a suite of policies and programs rolled out by the federal government to support the domestic renewable energy industry, will provide production subsidies, grants and other forms of support to help capture a greater share of the global solar manufacturing market.