Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Australian households have installed a record number of rooftop solar systems and home batteries so far this year, as they take energy security into their own hands in the face of surging fossil fuel prices driven by geopolitical shockwaves.
The latest bi-annual Rooftop Solar and Storage Report from the Clean Energy Council (CEC), published on Tuesday, includes a record quarter for rooftop solar installs in every state – quite the turnaround from the CEC’s previous half-year report which suggested rooftop PV may have passed its peak.
More than 180,000 households installed new rooftop solar systems in the six months to June, while an even higher number – more than 270,000 – installed home batteries over the same period, driven by the rebates on offer in the federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries program.
According to the CEC report, a total of around 180,878 rooftop solar systems were installed during the first half of 2026, a 35 per cent increase on the same period in 2025, and the strongest six-month total for system installations since 2021.
On home batteries, a total of 276,011 systems were installed over the first six months of 2026 – 52 per cent higher than the previous six-month period (183,245) – taking the first twelve months of the Cheaper Home Batteries Program to 457,439 installations and a whopping 12.9 GWh of storage.
The data shows that, even with the uptick in rooftop solar installations, the rate of home battery uptake is significantly higher as home storage continues to play catch-up, with 153 batteries installed for every 100 rooftop PV installations over the six-month period.
As of the end of June 2026, one in 2.5 Australian homes have a rooftop solar system, while one in seven have a battery installed.
At this rate, the CEC report predicts that a total of somewhere around 59.2 GWh of residential energy storage capacity could be installed behind the meter by 2029/30 – around 79 per cent above the ISP projection of 33 GWh.
But rooftop solar has provided the biggest turn-up of the bi-annual report, with new systems delivering 1,894 MW of new generation capacity – a 41 per cent jump on the 1,339 MW installed in the same period a year earlier, and the highest level for any six-month period on record.
As the CEC report notes, this reflects both the boosted number of installations – riding the wave of the home battery rebate – and the continued increase in average system size and ever improving efficiency of solar PV technology.
The majority of the new rooftop solar capacity was installed in the June 2026 quarter, with records set in every Australian state adding up to a total of 102,234 installations and 1,079 megawatts (MW) of capacity.
At current rates, the CEC says that rooftop solar in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) is expected to reach 40.3 gigawatts (GW) by 2029/30, around 4.5 GW or 13 per cent above the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) ISP Step Change projection.
When tallying up all installations from January 2019, the CEC found that Australians have installed a grand total of 21,979 MW worth of rooftop solar – a figure which approaches the entire remaining coal-fired generation capacity currently operating in Australia today.
As the report notes, this is a comparison of installed capacity, as opposed to energy delivered, given rooftop solar doesn’t generate power at night. What it does illustrate, however, is “the scale at which consumers have become the largest single builder of new generation capacity in the market.”
It also shows that Australia’s rooftop solar story is far from over, even if – as the CEC itself points out – the previous edition of the report suggested that the market may have passed its peak, after annual installations fell below 300,000 in 2025 for the first time since 2020.
Instead, on current numbers, solar installations are on track to reach over 300,000 again this year, while also delivering a higher installed capacity than in years prior.
“Australia is in the midst of household solar boom,” said Jackie Trad, the CEC CEO. “We now have more rooftop solar capacity in Australia than the capacity of all our remaining coal-fired power stations combined.
“The sun cannot be blockaded in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Australians not only understand this but they’re acting on it, taking control of their household energy at a time when fossil fuel price spikes and inflation are having a real impact on their finances.”
“Solar and batteries provide Australian homes with lower bills, reliable power, and clean energy, which is why people are opting for them in droves.
“The historic growth in household renewables is a win for both consumers and the country – delivering value and reliability for Australians and greater security for our nation’s energy supply,” Trad said.
“The coming expansion of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) to support solar systems up to 1 MW in size can help boost solar adoption by commercial and industrial businesses, driving down their operating costs.”
But even as solar and battery installations continue to skyrocket, the CEC still sees increasing opportunities to unlock greater flexibility.
The report notes that most household batteries are focused on increasing solar self-consumption, and wants to see a greater adoption of virtual power plants (VPPs), flexible tariffs, and flexibility markets that can further reward households for supplying power during peak demand, absorb excess solar, and ease local network constraints.
It says this would allow for improved use of existing network infrastructure, temporarily mitigating the need for costly upgrades while increasing rooftop solar penetration.
To this end, the CEC is undertaking a Flexibility Value Study to better understand the scale of the opportunity for consumers.
“The study will examine how household batteries are currently being used, quantify the potential consumer and system benefits of current battery operation, and identify policy and market reforms needed to unlock greater participation in flexibility services,” the report says.
Some other data points of note from the report include that the number of home battery models approved for installation through the federal rebate has more than doubled, from 1,259 to 3,406, alongside 3,900 approved inverters and 3,586 approved PV modules.
The report also illustrates that the average size of battery system that households are installing has decreased markedly since the May 2026 changes to the rebate settings, dropping to around the 25 kilowatt-hour (kWh) mark in June from up around the 35 kWh mark at the end of April.
The first half of 2026 also saw the approval of Australia’s first vehicle-to-grid capable chargers, meeting AS/NZS 4777.2 grid connection requirements and
opening a pathway for consumers to use their electric vehicle batteries to store and discharge energy.
On the safety and compliance side of the equation, the CEC says it investigated 567 complaints against approved sellers, up from 317 in the previous six months. Compliance action was taken in 88 cases, up from 53 cases in the previous period.
In the half-year, the CEC also addressed 143 instances of non-compliance that it says was “concentrated at the points where consumers are most exposed: 34 per cent in sales documentation such as quotes and contracts, 11 per cent in installation and delivery, and 10 per cent in grid connection.”
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