Australia’s solar revolution is continuing and while not at the breakneck pace of years gone by, there are still plenty of households wanting to slash their power bills and turning to the sun to do so.
With next-generation home energy storage on our doorsteps; the potential for further reducing reliance on the mains grid will likely attract significant new interest in batteries and battery-ready solar power systems. It’s been predicted half of all households in Australia will eventually install solar + battery systems.
The following list details the current top Australian solar postcodes for small-scale systems, the number of installations and collective capacity installed as at December 1, 2015. The data used to compile the list was sourced from Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator.
- 4670 (Bundaberg, QLD) – 9,887 – 30,224.317 kW
- 6210 (Mandurah area, WA) – 9,070 – 21,159.529 kW
- 4655 (Hervey Bay area, QLD) – 8,527 – 24,012.322 kW
- 4551 (Caloundra area, QLD) – 7,992 – 20,827.452 kW
- 4350 (Toowoomba area, QLD) – 7,289 – 22,285.092 kW
- 4305 (Ipswich area, QLD) – 6,390 – 17,842.029 kW
- 4211 (Southport area, QLD) – 6,355 – 20,075.635 kW
- 6065 (Wangara area, WA) – 6,299 – 17,819.314 kW
- 4207 (Yatala area, QLD)- 5,871 – 17,759.941 kW
- 4740 (Mackay area, QLD)- 5,841 – 22,048.319 kW
- 6155 (Canning Vale area, WA) – 5,767 – 15,032.764 kW
- 4570 (Gympie area, QLD)- 5,752 – 17,781.505 kW
- 3029 (Tarneit area, VIC) – 5,565 – 15,398.497 kW
- 4556 (Buderim area, QLD) – 5,459 – 15,316.742 kW
- 4306 (Ripley area, QLD) – 5,329 – 17,160.393 kW
- 4165 (Redland Bay area, QLD) – 5,245 – 14,305.118 kW
The clear state winner in the list in terms of numbers, capacity and prevalence was Queensland, with Bundaberg in front. Second was Western Australia, with the Mandurah area the leader.
An estimated 4,642 PV arrays were installed in November and at least 1,486,655 solar power systems had been installed across Australia at the end of last month; collectively representing 4,594,984.797 kilowatts of solar generation capacity.
Our renewable energy target legislation allows a 12 month creation period for Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) to be created and the figures above are based on certificate registration; so the final November numbers will increase. These certificates form the basis of the Solar Credits program, the subsidy that can reduce the cost of a solar panel system by thousands of dollars.
Whether Australia will have topped the 1.5 million mark by the end of this year remains to be seen; but if it hasn’t, that major milestone will be achieved early next year.
Solar is now represented in every postcode in the nation and there are just 71 postcodes out of 2,767 with only one installation.
