Australia surpasses 1.8 million solar rooftops

Australia has surpassed 1.8 million solar rooftops solar power systems on households and businesses, according to campaign group Solar Citizens.

Residences are taking advantage of rooftop solar due to rising electricity prices although upfront costs remain a barrier to certain parts of society.

As a result, Solar Citizens has called on all governments to take more action in enabling low-income households, apartment dwellers and renters to access solar.

"rooftops solar power systems is getting more and more popular across Australia with many people turning to solar to take back control of their spiralling power bills," said Shani Tager, senior campaigner at Solar Citizens. “There are simple steps governments can take to boost access to solar, like no interest loans, incentives for landlords and rolling out solar panels on public housing stock.”

She noted that rooftops solar power systems not only brings down prices but also helps to reduce peak demand.

US-based firm Tesla is giving members of the public in South Australia the chance to participate in creating the biggest ‘virtual power plant’ of solar PV and batteries the world has ever seen.

Australia saw its first large-scale solar-plus-storage installation connected to the grid recently, which will experiment with 'islanding' whole communities to offer them electricity purely form clean sources at certain times.