The "Missing Middle" of Solar on Strata

Solar is penetrating both ends of the strata market....but what about the middle of the strata market?

Solar on strata is doing great in 2024, with overall penetration of about 3.3% in Greater Sydney. This is much better than 0.6% penetration when we first looked at it back in 2017.


However, solar is penetrating both ends of the strata market. The smallest stratas are duplexes and townhouses. Duplexes are leading the pack in the strata world as there is almost no barrier to installing solar on one side of a duplex, compared with installing on a standalone house.


Townhouses are also seeing a large uptake in solar. This is because many townhouse owners are installing on the rooftop which is directly above their townhouse. Technically, this is common property. However, there is usually little objection from the other townhouse owners if one of these townhouses wants to install their own private system.


The other growth area of solar on strata is in large strata schemes with other 100 units. Sometimes these strata buildings are monolithic constructions. Other times, strata schemes with over 100 units may be comprised of 2, 3 or 4 physically separate buildings, all with a plentiful roofspace.


However, the segment of the market in Sydney which is poised to follow is in the middle. We have called this the "missing middle" of solar on strata. There are plenty of great Solar Sharing candidates in the building stock which is between 11 and 30 lots for Allume Energy. There are also good solar sharing candidates between 30 and 60 lots. There are plenty of great candidates for common area solar or common area solar/battery systems in the strata buildings with 30-100 lots.


Let's hope that 2024 is the year that Sydney starts to fill in the "missing middle" and retains its status as one of the most electrified cities on the planet when it comes to residential strata.

Brent Clark
CEO and founder, Wattblock