Australian cloud-based solar platform SolarCloud has secured a new allocation of remote-solar capacity valued at $3.7 million, responding to rising demand from Australians who are unable to access conventional rooftop solar.
The expanded capacity comes after earlier SolarCloud allocations sold out completely.
It will open up more remote solar to renters, apartment residents and households held back by unsuitable roofs, shading, heritage restrictions or a lack of rooftop space.
SolarCloud CEO and founder John Kennedy said the uptake reflected a clear appetite for solar ownership among people who simply cannot install panels where they live.
“They are not rejecting solar,” said Kennedy.
“They have been excluded by their property, their roof or their living arrangements.”
The company decided to secure the additional capacity so that more Australians could take part, he said.
Under the SolarCloud model, customers own actual solar infrastructure hosted and maintained on commercial rooftop sites in premium sunlight locations around the world, rather than at solar farms.
The electricity produced is converted into cash value and paid out as quarterly Australian-dollar credits.
Those credits can be applied to an account with any Australian electricity or gas retailer, or transferred directly to a nominated bank account.
Customers need no rooftop panels, no physical home battery, no subscription and no change of energy retailer to take part.
Kennedy said the platform effectively separates solar ownership from any single property, so customers keep their solar even if their circumstances change.
Buyers can rent a home, live in an apartment, relocate or switch energy retailers and still retain their solar ownership throughout.
The new capacity is expected to support demand from several groups that have historically been shut out of solar ownership, including renters unable to install panels on their property, apartment residents without access to their own rooftop, and households with shaded, unsuitable, wrong-facing or heritage-listed roofs.
It will also serve people who want the benefits of solar without a rooftop installation or physical battery, strata communities pursuing building-level solar ownership, and NSW builders and developers looking for a remote-solar option to meet BASIX requirements.
SolarCloud professionally hosts, monitors, maintains and insures the remote solar assets on customers’ behalf.
As ownership is portable, it can move with a customer when they relocate or switch energy providers, rather than being tied to a fixed address.
Customers across the country, including renters and apartment residents, are already receiving quarterly SolarCloud credits through a range of Australian energy retailers, the company said.
Kennedy framed the expansion as part of a broader push to widen access to renewable energy ownership.
“Solar should not be limited to people with money or those lucky enough to have a solar-friendly roof,” he said, adding that the new capacity would let SolarCloud keep working toward renewable-energy ownership that is available to Australians no matter where they live.
