Australian Solar PV Market Primer
The ultimate PV market guide for new business entrants.
What you get:
– History of PV in Australia
– Recent market trends & implications
– Hottest spots for PV in each state
– PV market background
– Successful PV business model examples
– Running a successful PV business in Australia (checklist)
Benefits:
– Thoroughly understand how PV in Australia works
– Get practical guidance on successful PV business structures & strategies
– Learn which regions have the highest current PV sales potential
– Discover what established (successful) PV businesses are doing
– Learn from Australia’s #1 Solar consultancy instead of learning through costly and time-wasting “trial and error”
Extending these results to more locations, we encounter the complexity of displaying the myriad of combinations and permutations. For those of you who hate graphs and just want the easy summary, you can find it beneath. For those of you who love graphs, the chart below compares the 10-year IRR from a range of PV system sizes (lines representing different consumption patterns) with those of solar hot water (retrofit or replacing water heaters (large or small dots respectively) fuelled by electricity or gas (green or purple dots respectively). To interpret the graph, look for the combination that most closely represents your circumstances: first the location (horizontal panes), then investment timeframe (upper or lower pane), and then find the dot that matches your hot water situation (purple = gas, green=electricity; small dot = replacing a broken water heater, large dot = retrofitting solar to an existing hot water unit), and compare the IRR for SHW to the range of IRRs for different sized PV systems depending on your consumption profile (home during the days = blue line; away during daytime = orange line). Note that the Victorian results don’t incorporate VEECs, which provide an additional discount that improves the financial outcome for SHW.
Remembering individual circumstances may cause significant variation from the statements below, here are the take-home messages for typical households in each location:
- NSW Metro: if your hot water is gas-boosted, in most cases SHW has quicker returns. If you’re water heater is electric boosted, then PV has quicker returns.
- NSW Regional: if your hot water is gas-boosted, SHW has quicker returns. If you’re water heater is electric boosted, in most cases PV has quicker returns.
- QLD Metro: SHW makes quicker returns than a PV unit in most circumstances, though in some circumstances you can get quickest returns from a small PV unit.
- QLD Regional: If you’re using LPG to heat your water, then you’ll get quicker returns from a SHW unit than a PV system. If you’re using off-peak electricity, PV or SHW may pay for itself quicker, depending on your circumstances.
- SA Metro: In most cases a PV unit will pay for itself quicker than a SHW unit. Consider SHW if you’re using gas boosted hot water, especially if your hot water tank is reaching the end of its life.
- TAS Metro: If your hot water tank has reached the end of its life, SHW makes good sense in most circumstances. Otherwise PV pays for itself sooner.
- VIC Metro: PV pays for itself quicker than SHW in most circumstances, but if your hot water tank has reached the end of its life then SHW combined with a small PV system is the optimal combination. VEECs may make retrofitting SHW to an existing tank has comparable economics to PV.
- VIC Rural: If you’re using LPG to heat your water then SHW pays for itself sooner than PV. If you’re using off-peak electricity to heat your water, then combining SHW and a small PV system is the optimal combination when your water heater reaches the end of its life, particularly if the additional discount offered by VEECs is factored in.
- WA Metro: If you’re using gas to heat your water, then SHW pays for itself quicker than PV if your water heater has reached the end of its life. Otherwise PV offers quicker payback, though best to combine a small PV system with SHW if you’re using gas-heated water.
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