More than 15,000 Australian businesses have installed solar panels says the Clean Energy Council.
“Businesses have now invested almost $460 million in solar power systems across the country, helping them to collectively save about $64 million on their bills every year,” said Clean Energy Council Acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
Mr. Thornton says the businesses operate in a broad range of sectors – from dairy and chicken farmers through to wineries, offices, supermarkets and retail outlets.
“There is an increasing recognition that the current modest support provided by the RET means the business case for solar power makes sense, helping businesses become more competitive in tough economic conditions.”
However, he warns slashing the Renewable Energy Target could see the opportunity lost or make it so paperwork-heavy some businesses simply wouldn’t bother.
“The rest of the world is going full-speed ahead on solar and there is a huge opportunity here for Australian businesses if we leave the RET alone,” he said.
Mr. Thornton states slashing the RET would also see the loss of up to 5800 jobs in this part of the nation’s solar power sector.
For now, the segment is humming along. National commercial solar provider Energy Matters reports it has installed 4 megawatts capacity of commercial scale systems (10kW+) and currently has 2MW of projects in the pipeline.
Among the high profile projects in Energy Matters’ portfolio are Western Australia’s largest privately-owned rooftop solar power system (Bidvest Foodservices) and Australia’s largest privately funded array (NEXTDC’s M1 Data Centre in Melbourne).
In August, Energy Matters stated that just among its monitored systems, 1 million kilowatt hours of solar electricity had been generated and it expects cumulative generation for those systems to reach 3 million kilowatt hours by end of this year.
According to the August Sunwiz Insights, of the 48 x 100kW commercial solar power systems installed in Australia in the previous 3 months; Energy Matters led the rankings with 5 x 100kW systems.
A portfolio featuring a selection of Energy Matters’ commercial solar projects can be viewed here. Businesses interested in learning more about how solar can benefit their bottom line can contact Energy Matters’ commercial team on 133 SUN or by emailing commercial@energymatters.com.au.
