Australia has reached a historic milestone – 25GW of installed solar capacity. According to the Australian Photovoltaic Institute (API), Australia has the most installed solar capacity per capita in the world.
Australia has a population of about 25 million, and the current per capita installed photovoltaic capacity is close to 1kW, which is in a leading position in the world. By the end of 2021, Australia has more than 3.04 million PV projects with a combined capacity of over 25.3GW.
The Australian solar market has experienced a period of rapid growth since the government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) programme was launched on 1 April 2001. The solar market grew at around 15% from 2001 to 2010, and even higher from 2010 to 2013.
Figure: Household PV percentage by state in Australia
After the market stabilized from 2014 to 2015, driven by the wave of household photovoltaic installations, the market once again showed an upward trend. Rooftop solar plays a major role in Australia’s energy mix today, accounting for 7.9% of Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) demand in 2021, up from 6.4% in 2020 and 5.2% in 2019.
According to figures released by the Australian Climate Council in February, renewable energy generation in Australia’s electricity market rose by nearly 20 percent in 2021, with renewables generating 31.4 percent last year.
In South Australia, the percentage is even higher. In the final days of 2021, South Australia’s wind, rooftop solar and utility-scale solar farms operated for a combined 156 hours, assisted by small amounts of natural gas, which is believed to be a record breaking for comparable grids around the world run.
Post time: Mar-18-2022