Australia’s Large-Scale Solar Investment Breaks Annual Record With a Quarter Still to Go
Australia’s large-scale solar sector has pushed annual investment past last year’s record with three months still left on the calendar, according to data released by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) and reported by pv magazine on October 17. Developers reached final investment decisions (FIDs) on 1 GW of large-scale solar capacity in the September quarter, bringing total solar FIDs for the year to date to 3.5 GW — about 30% above the previous full-year solar record.
Solar leads a broader renewables investment wave
Solar was not the only technology reaching financial close. Total large-scale renewable capacity reaching FID in the September quarter came to 2.1 GW, matching the regulator’s strongest quarterly result to date. That brings cumulative renewable FIDs for 2026 to 5 GW, above the previous full-year record of 4.9 GW, with one quarter still to report. Since 2022, large-scale renewable FIDs tracked by the CER now total close to 17 GW, underlining how much of Australia’s utility-scale build-out has been locked in during the past four years.
The pace has not been even quarter to quarter: solar FIDs eased slightly to 1 GW in the September quarter after 2 GW in the June quarter, a pattern the regulator’s data has shown before as individual large projects move in and out of the financing pipeline. The year-to-date total, however, already exceeds what developers committed to in any previous full calendar year.
Policy support underpins the surge
The federal government has made large-scale renewable investment central to its energy policy, running the Capacity Investment Scheme to underwrite long-term revenue for generation and storage projects selected through competitive tenders, alongside a standing target of 82% renewable electricity in the National Electricity Market by 2030. Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen pointed to the CER figures as evidence the policy is working, saying renewable projects reaching FID is “what progress looks like” and that “renewable investment has already broken the annual record with three months still to go.”
Australia’s transmission operator has separately reported a record 9.1 GW of renewables and storage connecting to the grid in the past financial year, a sign that the investment pipeline the CER tracks is translating into operating capacity rather than stalling at the financing stage. Individual projects reaching financial close this year include the A$790 million Mortlake Energy Hub battery EPC deal and the 200 MWh Deniliquin East battery in New South Wales, both part of the storage build-out that typically accompanies new solar capacity.
Rooftop solar and home batteries add to the total
The CER data released alongside the large-scale figures shows smaller-scale solar also expanding. Rooftop solar installations in the September quarter totalled 90,042 systems and 894 MW of capacity, 35% higher than the same quarter in 2025. Year-to-date rooftop additions have reached 2.8 GW, within reach of matching all of 2025’s installations with a quarter still to go; more than 13 GW of small-scale solar has gone up since 2022.
The regulator’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which subsidises household battery installations, had approved 15.3 GWh of capacity by the end of September, up 1.9 GWh in the quarter and up from about 5 GWh at the end of 2025. Including installations made before the scheme started on July 1, 2025, total home battery capacity now stands at roughly 19 GWh — more than five times the level recorded when the scheme began. New South Wales leads with 5.6 GWh approved, with Victoria and Queensland each at about 3.2 GWh.
Sources
- pv magazine, “Large-scale solar sets annual financial investment decision record at 3.5 GW,” October 17, 2026 — FID figures, rooftop solar data, Cheaper Home Batteries Program figures, Minister Bowen quotes, citing Clean Energy Regulator data.
Illustrative image. Photo: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source
