A Quarter Of Australian Businesses Generate Electricity With Solar PV

An increase in interest and uptake of solar by Australia’s commercial sector has been supported by the results of a new survey, with nearly one-quarter of businesses claiming to have already tapped rooftop solar as a measure to cut electricity costs and be more environmentally responsible.

Commercial solar, while much slower to take off in Australia than the residential market, has been making up some ground over the past year, but is yet to take hold. To boost the market, schemes like the Clean Energy Finance Corp-backed Westpac Bank loan facility have been launched to encourage Australian businesses to invest in solar, battery storage, energy efficient technologies and electric vehicles.

But progress is being made. According to the survey, published on Monday by energy management company Energy Action, 23 per cent of businesses generate some portion of their electricity supply using solar PV, up from just 14 per cent just two years ago. Another 37 per cent said they had “implemented solar PV measures in their business,” up from 23 per cent in 2014.

Meanwhile, the proportion of businesses who said they were seriously considering investing in technologies like solar PV and even battery storage and smart energy management systems was 84 per cent. Another 43 per cent reported they now had a formal energy management strategy in place.

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