Almost one in four Australians have a solar panel installed on their roof, according to the latest Roy Morgan research.
South Australians are leading the way with 32.8 per cent of households with solar.
Thirty per cent of Queenslanders have solar, followed by 26.6 per cent of West Australians.
However, take-up lags in New South Wales and Victoria, with only 17.7 per cent and 21 per cent of households owning solar panels, respectively.
The research predicts in the next 12 months only one per cent (94,000) of Australian households intend to buy (or replace) their home solar electric panels.
In its electricity forecast released last week, the Australian Energy Market Operator predicted uptake in distributed solar generation and use of energy efficient appliances would keep grid-supplied electricity consumption stable for the next 20 years despite a projected 30 per cent increase in population and assumed average growth in the Australian economy.
The Electricity Forecasting Insights projected the increased use of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels will shift maximum demand on the grid to later in the day, to a time when there is little or no rooftop PV generation available.
Over the longer term, AEMO expects the transition towards “more actively engaged and flexible consumer demand” to accelerate with the predicted uptake in solar PV to result in approximately 20,000MW of installed rooftop PV by 2037.
