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