Media release

Aussie solar hits 6GW record: enough sun to power all homes in Melbourne

Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia lead the charge

 

AUSTRALIANS are now generating enough power from the sun to light up nearly all the households in Melbourne, according to the latest industry analysis.

Figures released today show there is now 6 gigawatts (GW) of solar power installed across the country with the “sunny state” of Queensland leading the charge with more than 1.7GW. This means Australia is now generating enough solar power to meet the electricity needs of 1.3 million average households – or close to all homes in the City of Melbourne[1].

In fact, solar is so popular in some towns and suburbs that households without it are in the minority. For example, two thirds of all households in Baldvis in Western Australia and Elimbah in Queensland now have rooftop solar. (Full list of solar hotspots listed below.)

Australian Photovoltaic Institute chair Dr Renate Egan said Australian homeowners, commercial businesses and large-scale solar farms had all contributed to an extra 1GW of solar being added to the grid over the past year.

“Solar power now makes up 11 percent of our country’s total electricity generation capacity with more solar added to the system in 2016 than any other fuel type. These numbers are so big they can be difficult to picture, but to put 6GW into perspective – that is twice the capacity of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, Loy Yang in Victoria[2].”

Solar analyst Warwick Johnston, who is managing director of SunWiz, said a breakdown of data from the Clean Energy Regulator showed that Queensland, New South Wales and, new addition, Western Australia were leading the charge when it comes to new solar installations.

“Queensland is far and away the number one state for solar installation – earning its moniker of the ‘Sunshine State’. New South Wales follows close behind, both in the total number of installations as well as how quickly new solar installations are going in. The biggest change has been Western Australia leapfrogging Victoria into third place when it comes to the number of new solar installations.”

Mr Johnston said solar installations numbers had risen quickly at the end of 2016, and in the first quarter of this year the industry experienced one of its strongest ever quarters.

“With batteries now readily available on the market, many people are taking this opportunity to install both solar and batteries – or to upgrade the size of their existing solar systems. The price of solar has dropped low enough, and power prices are rising high enough, for this to make economic sense for many commercial operators, too.”

As of April 2017 there was a total of 1.67 million PV installations in Australia, covering 21% of suitable rooftops, which is the highest penetration of rooftop solar in the world. In total, these solar installations collectively generate 8400 GW/hr of energy each year, which meets approximately 3.3% of Australian demand.

Breakdown of Total Installed Solar Capacity (kW) in Australia:

Large-scale solar (over 100KW): 496MW = 7.7%

Commercial-sized solar (10 to 100KW): 774MW = 12.7%

Household solar (10KW and under): 4871MW = 79%

 

State/territory Total installed capacity (systems under 100kW) Penetration among dwellings New installations (as of April 2017) Same time April 2016 Rate of increase
ACT 59,000 13% 2024 1841 10%
NSW 1,216,000 14% 51,096 34,956 46%
NT 41,000 10% 2777 1871 48%
QLD 1,718,000 31% 61,581 39,823 55%
SA 727,000 32% 22,618 15,482 46%
TAS 105,000 15% 3155 2596 22%
VIC 1,060,000 15% 41,021 32,878 25%
WA 706,000 15% 43,515 25,422 71%
Total 5,633,000

 

Top 10 Aussie Solar Hotspots (installations under 10kW)  

Postcode Place kW installed No. dwellings No. solar installations Popularity / uptake
4670 Bundaberg, QLD 30,446 31,601 10,529 33%
4655 Hervey Bay, QLD 26,141 23,449 9274 40%
6210 Mandurah, WA 23,527 28,428 9997 35%
4551 Caloundra, QLD 22,732 18,199 8568 47%
4740 Mackay, QLD 22,587 28,203 6384 23%
4350 Toowoomba, QLD 21,969 37,299 7706 21%
4211 Gold Coast, QLD 21,584 21,018 6913 33%
6065 Wangara, WA 20,104 18,614 7108 38%
4680 Gladstone, QLD 18,831 18,938 5446 29%
4305 Ipswich, QLD 18,755 22,192 6735 30%

 

Top 10 solar hotspots based on popularity or % uptake by households*

Postcode Place No. dwellings No. solar installations Solar capacity (kW) Popularity / uptake
6171 Baldvis, WA 5765 3951 11,636 69%
4516 Elimbah, QLD 1207 763 2,680 63%
4270 Tamborine, QLD 2111 686 2,417 57%
6035 Yanchep, WA 1875 1054 3,032 56%
6122 Byford et al, WA 3326 1862 6,420 56%
4280 Jimboomba et al, QLD 4869 2690 9,228 55%
4512 Wamuran et al, QLD 1027 555 2,032 54%
4511 Ningi et al, QLD 3321 1757 4,774 53%
4504 Narangba, QLD 5196 2746 9,447 53%
6170 Rockingham, WA 2344 1234 3,576 53%

*Data for postcodes with more than 1000 dwellings

 

Top solar rooftop hotspot from each state and territory**

Postcode Place No. dwellings No. solar installations Solar capacity (kW) Popularity / uptake
4670 Bundaberg, QLD 31,601 10,529 34,114 33%
6210 Mandurah, WA 28,428 9997 25,504 35%
3977 Cranbourne, VIC 23,060 6050 18,292 26%
5159 Aberfoyle Park, SA 12,827 4625 13,916 36%
2480 Lismore, NSW 17,766 4943 14,462 28%
7250 Launceston, TAS 19,084 2353 8382 12%
870 Alice Springs, NT 7949 1549 14,039 19%

**Includes household sized installations (10KW or smaller) & excludes commercial and large-scale.

 

Top commercial solar hotspots (over 10kW):

Postcode Place No. dwellings Total no. solar installations Total solar capacity (kW) Commercial % Commercial capacity (kW)
2825 Nyngan, NSW 1205 198 102,823 99.45% 102,262
2400 Moree, NSW 4176 1319 61,175 94.5% 57,793
2880 Broken Hill, NSW 9564 2880 61,390 89.7% 55,078
2904 Monash et al, ACT 4874 887 15,209 85% 12,942
6530 Geraldton, WA 13,075 2742 18,823 60% 11,310
870 Alice Springs, NT 7949 1549 14,039 61.9% 8676
820 Darwin, NT 4455 275 8441 87% 7351
2164 Wetherill Park, NSW 6065 944 6799 67% 4556
2680 Griffith, NSW 8489 1312 8604 51.9% 4470
4343 Gatton, QLD 3860 1367 8709 51% 4450

 


[1] An average Australian household uses 18kWhr/day. 6 GW of solar is expected to deliver 24,000 kWhr of energy each day, so 6GW equates to the electricity required to power 1.3 million households. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics there are 1.39 million households in Melbourne.

[2] If capacity of Lou Yang A and B are counted together it equates to 3000MW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loy_Yang_Power_Station

Media inquiries: Dinah Arndt on 0425 791 394 or dinah@climatemediacentre.org.au