Solar consultancy group SunWiz’s latest research covering July 2024 has found that Australia’s rooftop solar PV market has returned to growth with a 23% month-on-month increase in deployment.
Indeed, the group’s research said that volumes reached 302MW, a record level for the mid-year interval (from April to October) and the fifth-best month on record. This will be a welcome sign, given that June 2024’s statistics revealed the market had dropped to their lowest point since January, with 247MW installed.
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The figures are significantly higher than those seen in 2023, 2022 and 2021, each of which failed to break the 275MW monthly deployment barrier. A breakdown can be found below.
It is also worth noting that the national average system size has been steadily rising since March 2024, registering at 10.06kW in July. This is the second-highest figure in the last 12 months, with December 2023 seeing over 10.4kW for the month.
In other positive news, every state and Territory in Australia saw growth in its rooftop solar PV sector in July, with cumulative volumes growing more than 20% across the board.
Tasmania tops the leaderboard with a growth margin of 30% month-on-month, with the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia coming in second with 27%. This was closely followed by the Northern Territory (26%), New South Wales (24%), Victoria (23%), Queensland (22%) and Western Australia (21%).
VPPs and consumer energy proposed to be added to NEM
In recent news, the Australian Energy Market Commissioner (AEMC) has proposed enabling consumer energy, such as solar and virtual power plants (VPPs), to directly compete with large-scale generators in the NEM. This could see rooftop solar PV used to respond to spot prices.
As reported by PV Tech in late July (25 July), the draft determination would allow aggregated consumer energy resources (CER) to be scheduled and dispatchable in the NEM.
“Integrating these technologies could significantly benefit the NEM. It would enhance supply security and grid stability and support Australia’s decarbonisation efforts, especially as coal-fired power stations are phased out and decommissioned.
