🌅 Australia Is Giving Homes Free Solar Power Every Day

SOURCE

Clean Energy Council

WHAT TO KNOW

• Australian households in three states will receive three hours of free solar power each day under a new energy-saving program expected to launch in 2026. The “solar sharer” program will offer households free power in the middle of the day, when solar generation capacity is the highest. The program will be available to households in New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland to start, including apartments and homes without rooftop solar panels.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Australia is one of many places around the world where solar power has become so cheap and abundant that electricity is essentially free during parts of the day, with prices even turning negative at peak hours. That’s thanks in large part to rooftop solar, which experts say is a key part of the global transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources. Other research shows broad adoption of renewables could save the world $12 trillion by 205.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Rooftop solar has exploded in Australia in recent years, where more than one in three homes now have panels, saving households an average of about $1,000 each year. Rooftop installations cost about $840 per kilowatt of capacity in Australia, about one-third the cost that U.S. households pay.