Campbelltown tops Sydney solar installations list for 2013

The suburb of Campbelltown has topped the list of Sydney’s solar adopting suburbs for 2013, with 639 new installations in the calendar year. At the other end of the list was Kogarah/Rockdale, which had only 128 new solar installations in 2013.

Official data analysed by national solar installer Energy Matters show a gap of 511 households between the similarly sized Campbelltown and Kogarah/Rockdale suburbs.

Those Kogarah/Rockdale residents that didn’t adopt solar to the same extent as their Campbelltown neighbours have collectively missed out on $602,000 in energy bill savings in the first year, Energy Matters says.

“With 19% solar adoption, Campbelltown is a leading light for Sydney, showing the kind of savings you can make by installing solar,” said Energy Matters Co-Founder Nick Brass. “Each Campbelltown resident with a new solar system is slashing an average of $1188 from their electricity bill in the first year.

“Even though only 6% of Kogarah/Rockdale residents have installed solar, the savings to be had are actually greater for this suburb compared to Campbelltown. An average of $1227 would be slashed from these residents’ electricity bills in the first year.

“Unfortunately, Sydney is still generally lagging far behind the rest of Australia as far as solar adoption is concerned. Brisbane’s top suburb has a solar penetration of 51%, Melbourne’s top being 22%, Adelaide 37% and Perth’s top suburb coming in at 47%.”

Brass says one third of Energy Matters’ solar installations are now being arranged through its payment plan - up from 3% in late 2011.