Australia’s renewable industry has reached a major milestone, with 3 million small-scale solar systems now installed on rooftops, which equates to over 1 in 4 houses and many non-residential buildings having solar systems.
Solar PV has recorded 30 per cent growth year on year from 2017 to 2020, in 2021 rooftop solar will contribute 7 per cent of energy going into the national electricity grid.
Angus Taylor, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, said, “Australia’s 3 million rooftop solar installations are reducing emissions by over 17.7 million tonnes in 2021 and will only increase in the future.”
The extended COVID-19 lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT had little impact on rooftop solar installations, with a total of 2.3GW installed between January and September 2021.
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) is currently processing between up to 10,000 applications every week for small-scale technology certificates associated with solar PV systems.
Clean Energy Council (CEC) Chief Executive Kane Thornton said, “For every megawatt of new rooftop solar, six jobs are created each year, illustrating that it is the largest generator of employment in the renewable energy industry.”
