In a year marked by significant strides in residential solar power, Australia nearly set a new record in 2023, as revealed by the latest report from SunWiz, a leading solar and storage market analyst. The 2024 Annual SunWiz Australian PV Report highlights an 11% increase in rooftop solar installations compared to 2022, showcasing the country’s growing commitment to renewable energy.
The report unveils that Australians installed an impressive 2.5GW of residential solar power last year, which is equivalent to about 6.1 million average-sized solar panels. Additionally, 0.9GW of commercial rooftop systems were installed. These figures are just slightly below the record-breaking year of 2021, with residential systems being 4% less and commercial systems 0.2% less.
This surge in solar installations has propelled Australia’s cumulative solar power deployment to an astounding 36.7GW, with residential systems accounting for 52% of this total. Warwick Johnston, the Managing Director of SunWiz, expressed his views on this achievement, stating, “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.”
Johnston further commented on the resilience of the solar power market amidst economic challenges, saying, “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 report also notes a trend towards larger solar systems and upgrades to existing units, driven by the desire to power electric vehicles and home energy storage systems, such as batteries. Johnston highlighted the significant role of solar power in the nation’s energy mix, with South Australia often being powered entirely by solar energy.
However, the overall solar industry in Australia, including solar farms, experienced a contraction in 2023, the first since 2013. The total new solar power installed in 2023 was 4.6GW, a decrease from 5.6GW in 2022 and the lowest since 2019. This downturn was primarily due to a reduction in large-scale solar farm activations, with only ten new solar farms totaling 1.1GW coming online in 2023, a 60% decrease from the previous year.
Johnston stressed the need for policy changes to boost the solar farm sector, stating, “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.”
Key findings from the report include:
- A total of 4.6GW of solar capacity was installed in 2023.
- The residential solar market saw robust growth, deploying 2.5GW, making it the second-best year on record.
- Despite growth in the rooftop solar market, it did not compensate for the downturn in new solar farms, leading to an overall contraction in the solar industry.
- 1.1GW of solar farms were activated for the first time in 2023.
- The cumulative solar power capacity in Australia now stands at 33.7GW, with 19.2GW from residential sources, 23.1GW from systems under 100kW, and 25.1GW from rooftop-mounted systems.
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