Australia's renewable energy capacity could increase by over 7GW by the end of 2024, according to the Clean Energy Regulator (CER). The regulator's latest Quarterly Carbon Market Report for Q2 2024 highlighted that large-scale wind and solar projects, alongside small-scale rooftop solar installations, will drive this growth.
An updated estimate suggests that 3GW to 4GW of large-scale wind and solar PV capacity will begin generation by year's end. Meanwhile, the CER anticipates the addition of 3.1GW from small-scale rooftop solar installations.
In the first half of 2024, the regulator approved 1.5GW of large-scale renewable power station capacity. Furthermore, 2.5GW of applications were under review as of Q2 2024. Investment interest in large-scale renewables has also risen, with 1.8GW of capacity reaching final investment decisions in the first half of the year, surpassing the 1.6GW committed in 2023.
Australia's leadership in rooftop solar PV installations remains strong, with the non-profit Climate Council projecting an additional 26.4GW of capacity by 2030, bringing the country's total to 49.4GW.
Currently, around 3.6 million Australian households have rooftop solar PV installed, offering an average annual savings of AU$1,500 (US$1,021). Collectively, this equates to AU$3 billion in annual savings.
According to consultancy SunWiz, August saw 277MW of rooftop solar PV installed, a slight 7% decrease from the 302MW installed in July.
Monthly installation rates continue to exceed 250MW. Australia has the potential to install 103GW of rooftop solar, approximately four times the current capacity, and 1.5 times the total capacity of utility-scale electricity generators in the National Electricity Market (NEM), which serves much of the country.
