A Very Solar Xmas Day In Australia

Rooftop solar panels across Australia did their bit to support festivities yesterday with clean energy, and made a significant contribution to meeting overall mains grid electricity demand.

Solar power systems were not only producing electricity and considerable bill savings for their owners, but also exporting energy for use by others – putting downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices.

Looking back at last year via OpenElectricity (previously known as OpenNEM), December 25, 2023 saw rooftop solar contribution’s to NEM¹ demand at 13.2% and in Western Australia’s SWIS²;  22.7%.

Rooftop solar played a bigger role in the NEM on Xmas Day 2024, meeting 22.9% of overall demand yesterday. Between 10am and 2pm, its share consistently reached more than 50%.  Thanks to solar power, other renewables and the nature of the day, NEM wholesale electricity prices averaged negative consistently between the hours of 6.30am and 4.30pm, with the lowest average price being -$38.44 per megawatt-hour at 12.30pm. The highest average price was $147.94 at 7pm.

As for Western Australia – unfortunately OpenElectricity was having a moment, so I wasn’t able to determine yesterday’s figures; and the application doesn’t cover the Northern Territory.

Solar’s NEM Contribution On Xmas Day 2024 By State

Here’s how the numbers looked in most states for December 25, 2024 in contributions to electricity demand – these figures are for rooftop PV only (utility-scale not included):

• Queensland: 20.2% of overall demand for the full day, reaching as high as 46.9% at 12pm.
• NSW (ACT): 23.9%, 55.2% at 12.30pm.
• Victoria: 24.1%, 60.3% at 1pm.
• Tasmania: 7.2%, 20.7% at 1pm.
• South Australia: 33.6%, 75.6% at 1pm – the leader of the pack on both counts, and by quite a margin

Another Solid Year For Rooftop PV

According to figures from the Clean Energy Regulator, close to 4 million solar power systems have been installed across Australia to date since 2001, with the majority of systems installed in the last 7 years. There have been north of 267,000 new installations just this year – but it will be well into 2025 before there’s a final tally due to the way the CER compiles its figures.

If you’re thinking about joining the rooftop PV revolution in 2025, many solar installers are taking a well-deserved break over the Xmas/New Year period. But it’s a great time to start preparing for your project. You can learn everything you need to know about going solar here, and if you’re looking for information on what’s happening with Australia’s solar panel rebate next year, check out this post.

And for existing solar owners considering energy storage in 2025, see SolarQuotes’ guides to understanding, buying and owning home batteries.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-xmas-australia-mb3081/