Australia has achieved a new milestone by reaching 30 GW of installed solar capacity by the end of 2022, according to a recent report by the Australian Photovoltaics Institute (APVI). Moreover, for the first time, commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop solar installations (1.47 GW) surpassed residential installations (1.35 GW) in 2022.
Image Source: Mercom
As of the end of 2022, over 3.3 million rooftop solar systems were installed, providing power to more than 37% of free-standing households nationwide. States like Queensland and South Australia were at the top, with close to 40% of free-standing homes powered by solar. Some localities boasted rooftop solar densities exceeding 50%.
The country has been consistently doubling its rooftop solar capacity every three years, with nearly 20 GW installed on residential, commercial, and industrial rooftops. This is a significant increase from 10.4 GW at the end of 2019 and 5.3 GW at the end of 2016.
Moreover, the integration of solar installations into agriculture, known as Agrivoltaics, is gaining interest, with several case-study projects built in recent years. The state-led incentives are supporting large-scale solar projects, and there is growing interest in ultra-large-scale projects for industrial use and electricity export, with several projects currently in the planning stage.
Due to the continued growth of Australia’s rooftop solar market, the country is now among the top ten global markets for photovoltaics in terms of annual installations and total installed capacity. The strong demand for rooftop solar is expected to persist until 2030.
One of the key reason behind this growth is the rising costs of coal and gas. Moreover, since several coal-fire plants might are set to get decommissioned in the coming decade, the electricity supply is bound to get affected.
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Resource: Mercom India
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