Australia hits 3-gigawatt solar milestone

New figures from the Clean Energy Regulator show that more than 3 gigawatts of solar power has now been installed on Australian rooftops, providing enough energy to run the entire Melbourne train network for more than a decade. Almost a third of all rooftop solar installations are in Queensland.

Analysis from Sunwiz, a specialist solar consultancy, shows that more than 1.15 million Australian households have installed rooftop solar. Around 36,000 Queensland homes have solar installed; NSW has 252,000 homes with solar installed.

According to Clean Energy Regulator figures, the 3 gigawatts of solar installations will produce more than 4000 gigawatt-hours in the coming year. This is equivalent to:

• powering the Sydney Opera House for the next 230 years;
• running Canberra’s Parliament House for more than 160 years;
• lighting up the MCG continuously for almost 520 years;
• producing more than 1050 toasted sandwiches for every Australian using a standard sandwich press.

Surprisingly, working-class suburbs and regional areas have led the solar change, rather than affluent areas of major cities.

“Household solar power gives consumers more control of their power bills by letting them generate their own electricity from the sun. And it helps to reduce the cost of our entire energy system on hot days when people everywhere have turned on their air conditioners,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green in an address to the Energy Efficiency Council’s national conference.

“Some state governments initially provided generous support to encourage people to go solar, but these programs have all been scaled back as the cost of systems has fallen over the last five years.

“Currently, the only support comes from the Renewable Energy Target scheme, which helps to make solar power more affordable and reduce its up-front cost for working families.”