Households outshine business in Australia’s rooftop solar revolution, report finds

Australia’s revolution in rooftop solar has left behind commercial and industrial buildings where installations have lagged far behind homes, according to new analysis. Australia leads the world in residential solar on per capita terms, with 22GW installed as of last December. But businesses have only installed about a quarter of that – 5.6GW – despite consuming more electricity than households, a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has found. Its authors argued that helping businesses fill roof spaces with solar could play a major role in adding power generation as coal plants close. The commercial and industrial sector must “play a far larger role in accelerating Australia’s energy transition … if the country is to meet its renewable energy targets”, the report’s authors wrote. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Commercial and industrial solar “can be deployed faster than utility-scale alternatives, because it generally doesn’t require extensive planning and environmental approval processes, nor new transmission build that can add several years to the rollout of utility-scale power projects”, the report found. The analysis defined commercial and industrial solar as non-residential, non-utility energy users such as manufacturers, retailers, farms, hospitals and schools. …