<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/09/australia-rooftop-solar-panels-households-business>
"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.
The IEEFA analysis identified key barriers, including: that businesses often
rent their premises, making investment in long-lived assets more complex;
inconsistent network tariff structures; and slow and often unpredictable grid
connection processes.
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.
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.
Co-author Johanna Bowyer, lead Australian electricity analyst at IEEFA, said
the power-generating capacity installed on household roofs in Australia was
“roughly equal to that of the coal plants in our grids”.
“However, we have not seen the same scale of action within Australia’s
commercial and industrial buildings, even though they consume substantially
more electricity than the household sector.”
The forecast capacity of the sector was between 17 and 31GW by 2050. “Storage
deployment is well behind households, though demand is increasing quickly,” the
report noted.
“The technical rooftop potential could be higher than that,” Bowyer said. “If
you also include agricultural areas, it could be above 80GW of technical
potential.”
Commercial loads in the national electricity market were higher in the middle
of the day, the report noted. “The middle of the day is usually when businesses
are operating and that is very well suited to the solar profile."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
