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Solar to soon offer grid more capacity than coal, consultancy says

Almost one-third of homes have panels, the highest in the world, says SunWiz, and will soon outpace capacity from coal

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Australia’s rooftops now boast 20 gigawatts of solar panels and will soon have the capacity to produce more electricity than the country’s entire coal industry, according to the industry consultancy SunWiz.

Almost one in three Australian households have solar photovoltaics – or solar panels – the highest penetration in the world. Queensland had the highest share of solar panels installed on dwellings deemed suitable for the technology with an 82% penetration, ahead of South Australia’s 78%, New South Wales’ 51% and Victoria’s 43%.

The take-up of solar PV has quickened. It took about 11 years for Australia to reach its first 10GW of capacity, while the second 10GW took just four years, according to SunWiz.

Combining the household solar panel capacity with the 11GW of large-scale solar plants, “solar energy is already Australia’s largest fuel source for electrical power in Australia”, according to Warwick Johnston, the managing director of SunWiz.

Once AGL Energy closes the remaining units of its 1680MW Liddell coal-fired power station in NSW’s Hunter Valley next month, rooftop solar alone will have more so-called name-plate capacity than Australia’s remaining coal fleet, SunWiz said. That measure refers to the output a device is intended to be able to produce.

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Queensland’s relatively sunny climate has encouraged residents there to host 5.2GW of solar PV, with the 1 millionth rooftop solar panel system to be installed soon. NSW is installing the most additional capacity of any state, with almost 100MW being added monthly, SunWiz said.

Rooftop solar is often the largest supplier of electricity during the middle of the day, helping to drive demand in the national electricity market to record lows, including during the December quarter. The relative abundance of solar power, though, is creating challenges for large-scale generators, particularly operators of coal plants that struggle to ramp output up and down to meet fluctuating demand.