Australia hit 2GW worth of sub-100kW solar PV installations this month, with at least 45MW larger than 100kW capacity in addition to this figure.
According to an in-depth analysis of the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) registry from solar consultancy firm SunWiz, Australia’s PV installations have increased despite the government’s removal of incentives to support the PV industry.
“This threshold has been reached in previously only-dreamed of rapidity, and has been paradoxically accelerated rather than decelerated by the removal of government incentives,” said SunWiz’s managing director Warwick Johnston.
A series of announcements regarding the reduction in incentives and subsidies have prompted Australians to limit rapidly increasing electricity bills by installing solar panels, according to SunWiz.
In the case of the state of Queensland, between July and December 2011 the state saw low but steady levels of PV installation, while those in January to June 2012 were considerably greater than in the same period of 2011. As in other markets, the impending removal of the feed-in tariff likely prompted residents to invest in solar to capitalize on the incentive scheme.
According to SunWiz, “[the] 2 GW milestone should not be taken as evidence that no further support for PV is needed; to the contrary, PV retailers in many states are struggling to rewrite business models to accommodate lower volumes now that the second-last boom has bust.”
