Solar is a common sight on houses but less so on warehouses, offices and other commercial buildings due to a complex knot of challenges that need unravelling.
Australian households are generating nearly four times as much solar energy as retailers, manufacturers and other non-residential buildings, with most commercial rooftops panel-free.
Harvesting the vast, untapped generating and storage potential in cities and towns depends on devising incentives targeting this “missing middle” and reforming the way commercial players interact with the grid, an energy think tank says.
Despite using more electricity than households and most of it during the day when solar is generating, the commercial sector lags well behind residential on rooftop systems and batteries.
Australia is a world leader in household rooftop solar, with 22GW installed on more than four million homes, compared to the measly 5.6GW generated by businesses, based on Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis research.
