Commercial projects help NSW keep title of top solar state

New South Wales has retained its position as Australia’s biggest market for solar PV in the month of March, as the state’s businesses lead the charge to install rooftop solar.

A new report from Green Energy Markets shows that growth in the NSW commercial solar market has helped to keep the state in the number one position for solar PV, which it returned to in February for the first time since 2011.

Over the March quarter, NSW had the highest commercial installed capacity, with 16MW – almost twice the level of the next highest state, Victoria, which installed 8.7MW.

Commercial scale solar approaches around one-third of installed new capacity for the state, while in Victoria and South Australia it accounts for just under one quarter of installations.

And the trend appears to be accelerating in NSW, with 260 commercial premises adding rooftop solar in March, 617 in the quarter, and 2,245 in the last 12 months.

All up in the month of March, NSW installed 19.4MW of rooftop solar, beating Queensland’s 18MW (Qld retains the title of largest aggregate installations) for the second month in a row. Victoria came a close third with 16.3MW.

Installed resi capacity by stateBoth Western Australia and South Australia are heading for total of 80MW to 90MW for the calendar year, continuing their high rate of rooftop solar penetration.

© 2015 Solar Choice Pty Ltd

Giles Parkinson