Why do so few apartments in Sydney and Melbourne have solar panels? [Video]

Energy consultant Brent Clark estimates that a measly 3.3 per cent of greater Sydney’s 49,000 apartment buildings have solar installed. In Melbourne, there are probably fewer.

Why are so few apartments benefiting from solar?

It’s a question that has long frustrated governments and apartment dwellers, particularly as Australia is a world leader in rooftop solar rollouts.

Some 3.9 million Australian homes and small businesses – more than third – have solar power systems on their rooftops that now generate about 11.2 per cent of the country’s electricity supply, says the Clean Energy Council.

And new solar installations on homes are still setting records.

New South Wales installed the most annual capacity of any state in 2023, Queensland’s installations sped past 1 million, and around 700,000 …