According to a recent report from solar and storage market analyst SunWiz, rooftop solar power systems were built 11 per cent faster in Australia in 2023 than in 2022, falling just short of record levels.
A remarkable 2.5GW of residential solar power, or 6.1 million average-sized solar panels, and 0.9GW of business rooftop systems were installed last year, according to the 2024 Annual SunWiz Australian PV Report.
These figures were respectively 4 per cent and 0.2 per cent less than the record year (2021), lifting the Australian cumulative total deployment of solar power to 36.7 GW. Residential systems comprise 52 per cent of this cumulative tally.
SunWiz Managing Director Warwick Johnston said: “With more than 3.7 million solar power systems installed, Australia remains the world’s leading country for per-capita uptake of rooftop solar power. There are more than three solar panels installed for every Australian.
“Despite household and business budgets being hit hard by inflation and interest rate increases, solar power systems fell in price in 2023. Solar power remains the most popular way of reducing electricity bills, and it rapidly pays for itself.
The company has also seen many Australians installing larger solar systems and even upgrading existing units, to power electric vehicles and home energy storage systems — such as batteries.
“Solar power is now a major contributor to the nation’s energy requirements. South Australia is regularly powered by 100 per cent solar energy, with occasions where all that state’s energy needs are met by rooftop solar,” said Johnston.
By contrast, Australia’s overall solar industry, including solar farms, contracted last year for the first time since 2013.
The amount of new solar power installed in Australia in 2023 was 4.6 GW in total — which was lower than in 2022 (5.6 GW) and its lowest level since 2019. The downturn occurred primarily due to reduced numbers of large-scale solar farms being energised.
Some 10 new solar farms totalling 1.1GW started producing energy in 2023, a 60 per cent reduction on the 2.9GW from the previous year, and the worst year for solar farms since before their rollout began in earnest in 2018.
“The report underlines the need to rebuild momentum in the solar farm development pipeline.
“The downturn in the Australian solar industry occurred due to less solar farm construction activity. A decade of inaction and blocking by the previous federal government resulted in stalling development of solar farms, which eventually resulted in reduced construction,” said Johnston.
While SunWiz expects continued growth in rooftop PV deployment, the number of solar farms to come online in 2024 is predicted to further contract.
“This demonstrates the need for federal and state governments to implement policy changes that accelerate the development and construction of solar farms, while swiftly acting to support the rollout of commercial solar power and home energy storage systems,” said Johnston.
