In August 2025, the final month of Australia’s winter, utility-scale and rooftop solar PV generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM) saw a dramatic 22.5% month-on-month increase to 3,338GWh.
As detailed in the chart below, which was sourced from Open Electricity, formerly known as OpenNEM, which aims to make NEM and Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) data more accessible to a broader audience, both solar generation types saw a steady rise year-on-year.
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Indeed, rooftop solar PV generation broke the 2,000GWh threshold for the month, coming in at 2,042GWh in August 2025. This is a steady 206GWh increase on the 1,836GWh recorded a year prior.
Meanwhile, utility-scale solar also saw growth in its generation throughout August 2025, finishing the month with a total of 1,296GWh generated, 178GWh more than the 1,118GWh recorded in August 2024.
August 2025 saw several notable developments across the solar PV industry. Perhaps one of the most significant occurred on 30 August when the combined share of utility-scale solar PV and wind in the electricity mix hit a record 47.2% in the NEM.
The record generation figures come as global forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggest that wind and solar PV will meet over 90% of increased global electricity demand this year.
Several projects moved forward during August. Pacific Energy commissioned a 26MW solar-plus-storage facility at the Atlas-Campaspe mine in New South Wales.
This project is claimed to be the first off-grid solar-plus-storage plant to power a mine in the state, marking an important development in the mining sector’s energy transition.
In addition, a 141MW solar PV power plant proposal being pursued by ACE Power and Osaka Gas Energy Australia in New South Wales entered the formal review process under Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The project includes plans for up to 480MWh of co-located battery energy storage with a 4-hour duration capability, highlighting the continued integration of storage with generation assets.
You can learn more about the solar generation across the NEM in June 2025 in our previous NEM data spotlight.
Utility-scale solar PV averages at 42.08GWh per day
The average for utility-scale and rooftop solar PV surged across August 2025, with 42.08GWh and 65.94GWh recorded, respectively.
These are both substantial increases on last month’s averages, when utility-scale solar generated 36.71GWh per day, while rooftop solar generated 51.74GWh per day. You can find a full breakdown exclusive to PV Tech Premium subscribers below.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best days for solar PV generation across August came at the weekend, when several records for renewable energy generation were shattered.
The 30 and 31 August were the top two days for cumulative solar PV generation, with a combined total of 124GWh and 128GWh, respectively. However, much of the heavy lifting on each of these days was done by rooftop solar, with utility-scale solar seeing unremarkable figures on both days compared to the rest of the month.
On 30 August, rooftop solar PV generated its highest amount for the NEM across the month, 85GWh. On the following day, it achieved its second-highest generation figure, 83GWh.
It is also worth noting the overall generation mix across the month. As detailed in the pie chart above, utility-scale and rooftop solar managed to outgenerate brown coal in the NEM across the month; however, there is still some work to do if it is to displace black coal generation.
The cumulative 3,338GWh generated by solar PV in the NEM in August 2025 was enough to give it a 17.2% contribution to the electricity mix. This is slightly higher than its closest renewable energy generation competitor, wind, which provided 16.4%. Hydroelectricity, which is mainly located in the island state of Tasmania, provided 5.9% to the NEM.
In contrast, black coal provided around 39.1% of generation to the NEM across August 2025.
Utility-scale and rooftop solar prices dip into the negatives at the end of August
Utility-scale and rooftop solar prices started the month strong before remaining stable across the mid-section. Prices for both technologies then dipped into the negatives frequently at the end of the month, coinciding with some of the best days for generation.
Utility-scale solar PV generation saw prices average around AU$33.73/MWh (US$22.10/MWh) across the month, while rooftop solar averaged a slightly lower AU$26.90/MWh.
As showcased in the graph above, utility-scale solar saw its highest prices on 1 August, at around AU$103.31/MWh. This sharply dropped to AU$4.9/MWh over the course of two days before rising again to AU$83.2/MWh on 7 August.
However, the most significant price events occurred at the end of the month, with utility-scale solar prices dropping into the negatives on the 28 and 30 August.
Rooftop solar PV followed a similar trend as utility-scale solar; however, it dropped into the negatives on the last five days of the month.
As depicted in the chart, rooftop solar PV dropped into the negatives on 27 August, coming in at -AU$5.39/MWh. It then fell to -AU$10.03/MWh, -AU$2.02/MWh, -AU$15.60/MWh before rounding off the month at -AU$7.23/MWh.
You can find all previous entries of the NEM data spotlight, exclusive to PV Tech Premium subscribers, available here.
