Small-scale solar installations in Australia doubled to 2.13GW in 2019

High electricity prices and low solar equipment costs drove capacity growth.

Australia saw its installations of sub-100kW PV double to a record 2.13GW in 2019 from two years ago, according to a report from solar energy consultancy firm SunWiz. This is also triple the volume from 3 years ago.

The growth was attributed to a combination of high electricity prices, low solar equipment costs, and increased awareness of solar’s value proposition across

The sub-100kW solar market saw three years of over 33% annual growth, in contrast with the 2013-2016 period of market contraction.

New South Wales remained the top market for sub-100kW systems, slightly ahead of Queensland. Most other states and territories saw record growth except for Tasmania. Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales posted over 40% YoY growth, whilst Western Australia grew the least at 15%.

The average size of solar array also grew to a record 7.6kW per system. Commercial systems (10-100kW) made up 31% of the volume installed in 2019, the exact same proportion as with last year.

“Many residential customers are installing systems as large as permitted by their network operator, with an eye to future battery installation or factoring in a future Electric Vehicle purchase,” the report stated.

Residential PV system prices continued to decline to record lows, though it has slowed compared to previous years. Average system prices fell 8% to $1.15/W, with commercial prices dropping more strongly to below $1/W for sub-100kW systems.