Since reaching the 23 million populace mark in April, Australia has hit another milestone – there are now over one million homes with rooftop solar panels.
According to Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator this number equates to 10 per cent of the country experiencing the benefits of solar home systems.
More than 1,011,478 systems are generating 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar and saving households over $500 million in energy costs.
These figures are remarkable considering there were only 20,000 solar systems installed in 2008, with Queensland experiencing the greatest growth from 328 to over 120,00 in six years.
With home solar growing this strong and manufacturing prices falling, Australia could reach the 10 GW milestone within the next five years.
The solar home industry is also home to over 8,000 employees, and thanks to the Renewable Energy Target will be generating 20 per cent of the country’s energy through renewable schemes by 2020.
