More than 100 megawatts of rooftop solar capacity was installed across Australia in October, according to the Renewable Energy Index issued by Green Energy Markets.
This is only the second time that the 100MW has been passed in a month, according to the activist group GetUp! which funded the Index. The first was in June 2012.
GetUp! claimed that the increased installation of solar panels last month, when 15,736 systems were installed across the main grids, was driven by the rising electricity prices.
The organisation also claimed that the 106MW installed in October would produce enough energy to power 28,000 homes and was expected to save households $195 million on power bills over the next 10 years.
{loadposition sam08}The Index showed that renewables made up a fifth of the power generated by the main grids and that there was enough renewable energy to power 7.8 million homes.
GetUp Environmental Justice director Miriam Lyons said: “It’s quite clear that crippling electricity bills are driving people install more panels, to take advantage of the free, clean energy the sun provides every day.
“This should be a wake-up call to both governments and energy companies. People who have the ability to install solar, are doing it in droves. Those who don’t are being slugged with high wholesale prices and unreasonable retail markups.
“The federal government’s National Energy Guarantee will do nothing to fix this mess. It keeps dirty old coal plants on life support, and strangles investment in new large-scale renewables.
“Households see that going solar makes sense. Why won’t our national government?
“We need a plan to embrace a clean, smart electricity grid of the future that will work for everyone in the community.”