A recent study by PV and energy storage analyst Sunwiz shows Australia's large-scale renewable energy market is shrinking. If you look at Sunwiz's breakdown of Large Scale Certificates (LGCs) registered by Australian state, you can see that the data curve is completely flat for most of Australia. Despite Australia's favorable policy environment, the country's large-scale PV market has stagnated, with this year's certificate registration figures disappointing.

Warwick Johnston, general manager of Sunwiz, said in an interview with industry media, "You can see from the chart how flat the curve of photovoltaic power generation is. Currently, only Queensland's photovoltaic power generation is rising."

Queensland and New South Wales have both led other states in photovoltaic power generation over the past three years. Despite this, even New South Wales has a mediocre performance in the PV market in 2023.

Johnston noted that these figures include both utility-scale PV plants and large commercial and industrial PV systems.

He said: "In the next six months, it is inevitable that more companies will start to use photovoltaic power, so the pressure accumulated in the commercial and industrial photovoltaic fields will be released. However, this stagnation in the generation of electricity from grid-scale photovoltaic power stations, We don't think it will be resolved, not in any quick way. If this stalls too slowly, Australia's energy transition will risk losing its social license because coal-fired generation cannot be replaced by electricity from renewable sources. , people are going to face high electricity prices. There are some hurdles that have to be overcome now before we can get a lot of cheap, clean energy."

He expressed concern about the reduction in certificates for small-scale PV projects while waiting for solutions for large-scale PV projects. He also noted potential risks associated with this approach.

He was referring to the Australian government's phasing out of the small-scale certificate system, which is due to end in 2030. He said one way to make things better would be to make 1MW commercial PV systems STC compliant. In his view, it is not enough in the regulatory realm to begin to address issues with grid-scale PV plants, including delays in approvals, grid connection and transmission.