Here in Australia we're lucky to boast some pretty impressive solar power facts and figures as our natural environment is one suited to the sunny requirements of solar energy.
Greg Combet, federal minister for climate change, industry and innovation, has released some information relating to solar power in the country.
For instance, according to Mr Combet, a typical 3 KW solar panel household system in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra or Perth can produce approximately 4,100 kWh of electricity annually.
The overall value of this production depends on a number of factors such as electricity purchase prices, revenue received for surplus electricity exported to the grid and the amount of electricity used in the household per day.
Depending on some of these factors, on average savings on power bills can be around $560 annually.
As well as this, the environmental benefits of solar power have always been clear.
Through the current level of approximately 2,500 MW of solar PV generation installed throughout the country, it's possible for up to 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions to be saved each year, and that's equal to taking about one whole million cars off the road.
Clean energy industries are also a great opportunity for employment. It's estimated that between eight and 16 thousand people have been employed as a result of solar power technology and the industry.
While Queensland is way ahead in the solar panel stakes with approximately 304,244 installations as of this year, other states are not far behind.
New South Wales also shows promising figures, with 227,355 solar panel installations.
The Northern Territory has the fewest installations with 2,070. This may be due to its remote location and more dispersed populations as the region is most certainly blessed with large amounts of sunshine.
This is not to say the the Northern Territory doesn't have a number of impressive solar power initiatives, however.
For instance, Alice Springs, the Northern Territory's third-largest town is a veritable solar hotspot coming under the Solar Cities program.
Some of the Solar City's notable features include the Crowne Plaza Alice Springs utilising flat plate PV panels, the Alice Springs airport which utilises solar PV, the Uterne solar power station and the Alice Springs Aquatic and Leisure Centre which makes use of black pipe solar water heating.
Posted by Mike Peacock