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There is no doubt that 2023 has seen rooftop solar establish itself as the Australian energy system’s major stars. And with success comes new challenges.

There have been positive signs throughout the year, but now the data confirms it: 2023 may well be a record year for rooftop installations in Australia. Melbourne-based consultancy SunWiz reported its latest numbers in the first week of December, and they make for happy reading. But they are just the beginning of a year of remarkable results on the back of distributed PV.

As the cost of both solar and energy storage continue to fall, offgrid living is an increasingly attractive proposition for homes and businesses. Often called a standalone power system, or a microgrid when referring to a large system across many houses and buildings, it’s the “green dream” for many.

It’s a powerful idea of how we can live: connected prosumers powered entirely by large rooftop PV systems, in a fully electrified home; the balance between household electricity production automatically achieved through the coordination of interconnected, intelligent devices.

The shadow cast by the partial shading of rooftop PV projects need not be as long as in the past. A new study by inverter maker Fronius has set out how the impact on power output from partial shading can be effectively reduced through the use of string inverters – thanks to its Dynamic Peak Manager technology, no optimizers or microinverters are required.

In recent years, there hasn’t been much to smile about on federal budget night for the solar community. This year was very different, with $3 billion being allocated to help households and small businesses cope with spiralling energy bills.

After all my years in the industry I never cease to be amazed by each new generation of PV modules. Indeed, there is so much going on in wafer, cell, and module technology in 2023 that we had to divide this post into two parts.

Combined with the ever-growing number of Australians looking to save money and cut their emissions, the downward trend in solar feed-in tariffs (FiTs) over the last few years shows no sign of stopping. It’s a trend that has been underway for close to a decade, and now we’ve reached the point at which much of the value in a homeowner’s PV system lies in self-consumption, in putting the solar electrons generated on the roof to good use around the house.

It’s hardly news that the solar modules in 2023 have higher efficiencies and power outputs than ever before. But I think it is worth reflecting on the impressive progress being made in PV cell and module development, and just how quickly things are changing.