Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has revealed that over 7GW of renewable energy capacity could be added in the country by the end of 2024.
The regulator said this is due to an upgraded estimate of 3GW to 4GW of large-scale wind and solar PV reaching first generation and an estimated 3.1GW of small-scale rooftop solar being added, according to the organisation’s Quarterly Carbon Market Report for Q2 2024.
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The CER also said 1.5GW of large-scale renewable power station capacity was approved in the first half of 2024, and 2.5GW of applications were under assessment at the end of Q2 2024.
In the first half of 2024, final investment decisions for large-scale renewables continued to increase. A total of 1.8GW of capacity reached a final investment decision, surpassing the 1.6GW that reached a final investment decision in 2023.
Rooftop solar PV to overtake coal-fired power this decade
In what has proved a successful year for utility-scale renewable energy installations, rooftop solar PV also continues to storm ahead in the Australian market. Indeed, coverage from PV Tech last week (20 September) revealed that rooftop solar PV could overtake coal-fired power stations by the end of the decade.
Indeed, the non-profit organisation Climate Council signalled that Australia, the global leader in rooftop solar PV installations, could add a further 26.4GW by the end of the decade, bringing its total to 49.4GW.
Australia currently has around 3.6 million households with rooftop solar PV installed, granting households an average annual savings of around AU$1,500 (US$1,021). Collectively, this means Australian households are saving around AU$3 billion per year.
Monthly installation rates for solar PV continue to sit above the 250MW mark in Australia, with August seeing 277MW installed, according to solar consultancy SunWiz. This was a 7% month-on-month decrease on the figures witnessed in July, where 302MW was installed, achieving a record level for the mid-year interval.
Australia has the potential to install around 103GW of rooftop solar PV, which is four times the current capacity. This is 1.5 times the capacity of the utility-scale electricity generators in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM), which powers the entire east coast, South Australia, and Tasmania.
