Australian solar blowout sees capacity tripled in 2018

With the nation’s power bills climbing steadily, Australians have switched to solar, tripling photovoltaic capacity to 3775 megawatts last year.

Green Energy Markets’ Director Tristan Edis told The Sydney Morning Herald that his firm predicts the numbers to rise by another quarter to 4700 megawatts this year.

“It’s going to have a significant impact on [Wholesale] power prices in the middle of the day,” Mr. Edis said.

“We’ve probably got significant room for growth there in 2019.”

Rooftop solar initiatives in residential and commercial sites drove the bulk of the increase with Queensland raising its capacity by 297 per cent to 1495.4 megawatts last year.

While NSW and Queensland still retain the largest share of solar capacity, Victoria grew steadily following the Andrews Labor Government’s promise to install 650,000 new systems.

With over two million homes installing solar systems as of last year, the uptake rate soared to six panels a minute with wait times for companies like Solargain pushing out to as long as ten weeks in Victoria.

Chief Executive of Solargain Domenic Mercuri also told The Sydney Morning Herald that his company grew by 20 per cent last year due to the industry’s rapid pace and savvy consumers.

“They know the brand they want, the panels, the system size – they’re more educated,” Mr. Mercuri said.

“We’d expect to grow another 20 per cent this year.”