Australia Rooftop Solar Hits 341 MW Record, Batteries Surge
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- SunWiz reported Australia's rooftop solar market reached a record 341 MW in March 2026 for systems up to 100 kW, an almost 20% increase from February and 16% ahead of the same point in 2025.
- Small-scale battery installations hit a record nearly 1.6 GWh in March, up 35% from February, with average battery size reaching a record 40 kWh and most systems clustered in the 40–50 kWh range.
- The Cheaper Home Batteries Program (CHBP), a federal AUD 7.2 billion rebate scheme, has supported deployment of about 300,000 batteries since launch and is driving demand for larger solar systems to feed higher-capacity storage.
- SunWiz Managing Director Warwick Johnston attributed March's solar and battery surge partly to a rush of installations ahead of May 1 CHBP changes, when the rebate shifts from a flat per-kWh incentive to a tiered structure; the government said the revised scheme will maintain an average discount of about 30%.
- Rooftop solar growth was recorded across all states, with the Northern Territory posting 43% month-on-month growth and New South Wales rising 32%, though the 75–100 kW segment declined slightly.
- New South Wales recorded more than 600 MWh of battery installations in March — a 44% increase from February and a new state-level high.
Why it matters: The dual records — 341 MW of rooftop solar and 1.6 GWh of batteries in a single month — show that a $7.2 billion federal rebate is reshaping Australia's distributed energy market in real time, with installers and households racing to lock in incentives before the May 1 tiered restructure takes effect.
