The NSW Battery PRDS Incentive is Now Available
The NSW Battery PRDS Incentive is Now Available
Posted 28 Oct
With the release of the new Clean Energy Council’s (CEC) H1 2024 report on solar and battery storage, it gives us a clear indication of the upward trajectory of renewable energy adoption in Australia, which will help us reach our NetZero targets.
Back in March of 2024, we reported on the Q4 2023 report which showed us just how impactful renewable energy generation was, and if we could continue building on those figures.
Whilst Australia sits at grand cumulative total of 24.4 GW, we are well on our way to reaching a total of 25 GW of rooftop solar capacity by the end of 2024. Let’s put that into perspective... that’s 25,000,000 kW of solar capacity…
For the first half of 2024, Australia’s total rooftop solar capacity installed reached 1.3 GW with 141,364 units.
Since 2018, New South Wales had led and is continuing to lead in rooftop solar with the highest installed rooftop solar capacity of any state, reaching 454MW capacity. Queensland followed reaching 360 MW and Victoria at 246 MW.
NSW alone now makes up more than quarter of Australia’s total rooftop photovoltaic (PV) capacity, sitting at approximately 6.6 GW.
Counting the total 141,364 solar installations in the first half of 2024, this number didn’t meet last year’s halfway point of total installation and capacity numbers. However, even though the halfway wasn’t met, we are at the equivalent of the same period last year with almost the exact same number of 140,181.
In the first half of 2024, the total rooftop PV capacity installed totalled 1.3 GW from 141,364 units.
Based on numbers from OpenNEM, 11.3% of Australia’s total energy generation was from rooftop solar, contributing 13,479 GWh from Jan – June 2024.
The average solar system size from Jan-June also grew to 9.7 kW, which is a new record for a bi-annual report. Comparing it to 10 years ago, the average sat at 4.3 kW, and 7.4 kW 5 years ago.
Battery sales reached just under 30,000 battery sales during the first half of 2024, boosting the cumulative total number past 140,000.
From Jan to June 2024, 20.7% of rooftop solar installations also had a solar battery system installed with the solar. This 5% increase from the same time last year indicates an upward trend of more solar customers adding a battery into the mix.
Another interesting trend that has previously developed is the average system size increase towards the end of the year. This number increases all year and spikes during December, quickly falling off as the new year transitions.
This could come down to aspects like more businesses investing in solar later in the year which drives the average up, people feel more inclined to invest in larger systems through summer. Could be anyone’s guess, but based on this trend, we should see a continual increase in system sizes and a peak in December.
There seems to be a strong increase in additional home battery inclusions around the June-August period, and overall sales in December, which might mean that as of this article, we are yet to see a possible spike. The number of solar customers getting additional battery storage is likely to increase with the NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme where first-time battery customers can get a value off their battery purchase.
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Overall, we are seeing an upward trend in renewable energy adoption with increasing numbers of solar and battery installations all over Australia. These increases show us that the community value their energy independence and sustainability, with the investments in self-generation and storage.
From here we should see a strong surge in battery storage purchases throughout NSW with the incentive starting in November which will boost H2 numbers.
Graph images are courtesy of CEC, from their report.
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