Australia is already a market leader when it comes to rooftop solar PV capacity installed – and now it has added 2.13 GW of new capacity in the year 2019, according to a report from local solar market intelligence firm Sunwiz. This means 35% annual growth for the segment compared to 1,576 MW a year before.
It also means the segment has slightly exceeded the forecasted capacity of 2 GW as presented by Green Energy Markets in April 2019 (see 2 GW Rooftop Solar For Australia In 2019).
This growth comes after 46% YoY growth was registered for the year 2018 and 50% in 2017. The 2.13 GW capacity comprises rooftop solar system installations of below 100 kW with most of the new systems reported in December 2019 amounting to 220 MW. The major market was New South Wales (NSW) followed by Queensland and Victoria, reported RenewEconomy referring to Sunwiz report 2019 Year In Review.
It said aggregate installed rooftop solar PV for the country till the end of 2019 was 10.2 GW coming from installations atop 2.3 million buildings. Regarding cumulative installed PV capacity, the leader is Queensland with 2.9 GW capacity, NSW with 2.4 GW, Victoria with 1.99 GW, Western Australia with 1.29 GW and South Australia with 1.2 GW.
According to the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) of Australia till September 2019 total rooftop solar power capacity of the country exceeded 9.48 GW while Sunwiz pegged it slightly higher at 9.78 GW till October 2019 (see Australian Rooftop Solar Capacity Reaches 9.48 GW).
The report can be purchased on Sunwiz website.
According to CER projections in a report released in December 2019, rooftop solar capacity of Australia is likely to go up by an additional 15 GW over the decade which would result in over 25 GW capacity by the end of 2030.