When most people think of solar power, their minds conjure up images of large-scale solar farms with black panels reaching into the distance. This high producing renewable energy source might seem like the future of solar power, however the figures show that small-scale household usage contributes 10 times more in Australia.
Promising Trends as Tariffs Come Down
We discussed Australia’s growing power crisis in a previous post, and although solar panels on rooftops won’t solve the national crisis, steady adoption will certainly ease the burden on the network. High cost to entry has been the major deterrent in recent years, however the cost has reduced by 80% in the last decade. Today, around 19% of homes in NSW have rooftop panels.
Contribution to the National Power
Large-scale solar power contributes approximately 0.25% of the nation’s power, whereas rooftop solar power comes in at 2.8%. It’s the regional areas that are leading the charge, where uptake is in the 30-40% of households. Today 1.6 million Australian homes have solar panels installed and 1.4 million of these households did so in the last 10 years.
Factors Leading the Charge
Cost of living is going up, prices rise, and so do household bills and this all adds up to greater pressure on consumers’ wallets. The cost of installing solar panels has reduced from $9-a-watt to $1.60 in a decade. Solar panels offsets high-usage and in some cases return power to the grid, placing households in the positive with power companies.
Solar Batteries Are the New Big Thing
Last year in Australia, 7,000 units of solar batteries were installed onto homes and in the year to come that number is predicted to triple. Once again, a significant fall in battery prices has led to the explosion in popularity. Batteries are predicted to be a game changer in the residential industry while in 2017 Elon Musk suggested he could solve South Australia’s power crisis with industrial battery usage.
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