According to data released by Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER), Australia has installed 729 MW of rooftop solar capacity in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021, an 8% increase compared to 677 MW in the same period last year.

However, rooftop solar installations declined by 5% in Q2 2021, compared to 768 MW in the previous quarter.

As of June 2021, Australia’s cumulative installed rooftop solar capacity stood at 14.9 GW. The country had installed about 12.45 GW of cumulative rooftop solar capacity in 2020, 10.22 GW in 2019, 7.97 GW in 2018, and 6.47 GW in 2017.

The country has installed 2.88 million rooftop solar systems as of June 30, 2021.

In terms of small solar generation, New South Wales (NSW) led the way with 63,214 installations, followed by Queensland and Victoria with 48,921 and 42,151 installations, respectively.

The country also installed 1.34 million solar water heaters, of which 327,301 were air-source heat pumps. Victoria installed the most solar water heaters with 21,282 installations, followed by Queensland with 6,741.

According to CER’s data, the country installed 4,856 solar systems with concurrent battery storage capacity as of July 2021, of which NSW installed 1,279 units, followed by South Australia with 1,057 installations.

Australia also added 424 small wind generation units with a total output of 1.4 MW and 20 hydropower generation units with 51 kW output.

In February 2021, New South Wales simplified the process of installing renewable energy systems in strata buildings by passing new amendments in the Parliament. The strata committees now require only 50% of owners to agree to install renewable energy systems in their apartment buildings.

Mercom had earlier reported that Victoria would provide $191 million to expand its solar homes program. Through 42,000 additional solar rebates, the program would help 140,000 households to install solar panels on their rooftops at no upfront cost over the next two years.

Also, the Australian government is expected to invest $18 billion through new investments in low emission technologies over the next ten years to reduce carbon emissions.