According to recent studies from Curtin University, rooftop solar panels installed in the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) area are now generating more energy than Western Australia’s largest power turbine.
Sustainability Professor Peter Newman, claims that 20 per cent of homes across the SWIS grid have rooftop solar panels installed. The South-West Interconnected System stretches from Kalbarri north of Perth to Ravensthorpe in the state’s south, also taking in the Perth metropolitan area.
“We are in the extraordinary position of saying that Perth [SWIS] now has rooftop solar as the largest supplier of electricity, it’s the biggest power station in WA,” – Professor Peter Newman, Curtin University.
Professor Peter Newman has predicted that by 2020, half of all households in the SWIS area will have rooftop solar power systems.
SWIS includes coal, gas, wind and solar generation. The interconnected system has the ability to produce 5,300 megawatts of power. As it stands, it has only used approximately two thirds of that power during its high peak in 2014 through to 2015. The state is fast developing its use of renewable energy and moving at the right pace with the country’s forever growing transition to solar energy and abolishing fossil fuels.
Across Australia, solar power is becoming more and more largely recognised as a more suitable, alternative source of energy. Slowly but surely, we are on our way to 100% renewable energy for a smarter, cleaner and greener Australia.
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