Rooftop solar boom continues in Australia with 3GW installed in 2024

In Australia, rooftop solar generated a total of 30,178GWh of electricity in 2024 - 12.4% of the country’s total supply, which was up from 11.2%.

This was one of the standout findings of the latest report from the Clean Energy Council, which showed there were 159,011 rooftop solar systems installed during the second half of 2024, bringing the annual total to 300,075.

The report also confirms that Australia passed 25GW worth of total rooftop PV capacity. This is more than black and brown coal combined, which totalled 21.3GW installed capacity in the 2023-24 financial year.

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The Rooftop Solar and Storage Report shows that Australian households and businesses are benefitting from more than AUD$6 billion (US$3.8 billion) savings annually on their energy bills.

More specifically, rooftop solar saves an average family AUD$1500 (US$958) on their annual bill, and that amount almost doubles if you add a battery, states Clean Energy Council.

The country is seeing an increase in household battery installations too. The report shows that in the second half of 2024, 45,233 home battery units were sold, a 55% increase on 2023. There are now 185,798 home batteries currently installed across Australia.

However, according to Con Hristodoulidis, Clean Energy Council general manager - Distributed Energy, there are still too many Australians missing out on the opportunity to maximise savings with a battery installation. Hristodoulidis is therefore calling for a national home battery rebate scheme, to ease the upfront costs associated with adopting home batteries.

Said Hristodoulidis in a statement: “Only one in three rooftop solar owners have a battery storage system installed, despite its capability to save households up to 80 per cent for a combined solar battery system.

“In a cost-of-living crisis, it’s clear the upfront cost of purchasing a home battery, which averages around $12,000 - $15,000, is a barrier to entry for many people, and this is why we need a national battery rebate scheme”.

The report highlighted that 27% of customers export their self-generation back into the grid, representing about 10% of energy delivered by the distribution networks in 2023/24.

Most of the exports were from rooftop solar at 99%, while energy exported from solar and battery systems was around 4%.

Queensland and South Australia have the highest proportion of customers exporting their self-generation back into the grid.