Just as NSW recently broke the long drought of wins in state of origin, they’ve also made some impressive changes in PV market share! This month, NSW overtook Queensland to become the #1 state in Australia for PV. A lot of this is to do with commercial sales, but it’s also about the maturity of NSW’s market. QLD is waning in importance, and its largely because of its residential solar market becoming increasingly saturated, without a sizable commercial market to replace it.
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Where things stand – NSW VS QLD
NSW now leads the country in PV – and its all because of Commercial PV. The commercial solar market is taking off in a big way, with NSW leading the charge. 30% of NSW’s volume installed in March was commercial, absolutely crushing QLD (which is still under 15%).
Why is QLD so far behind in commercial? QLD was one of the last states to finish its feed-in tariff. It was also one of the biggest hitters in terms of residential uptake. This has left it with a near-saturation of residential solar, a decline in interest since the FiT was scrapped and now an industry without a great deal of experience selling into the commercial market.
In contrast, NSW was the first state to have its FiT scrapped entirely. This killed-off its residential installation, leaving NSW solar companies to focus upon sites with high daytime self-consumption of solar. NSW began to focus on commercial PV in 2011 out of necessity.
The Future of Commercial PV for QLD?
QLD will likely have to follow the same path and could take some time to get commercial to reach the same level as NSW. But it’s a crucial market to crack for any PV business operating in QLD. With NSW charging ahead, and the threat of a declining, near-saturated, profit-choked residential market, QLD PV businesses without a solid commercial-market focus will have uncertain times ahead.
NSW has grown through commercial and QLD is well positioned to take advantage of a well-designed commercial strategy. Ask us about our specially designed ProfitVoltaics packages to help you access commercial PV in a bigger and better way. Call Warwick now on 0413 361 534 or email us.