These days, almost everyone understands solar power saves money. But just how much? We thought it’d be interesting to frame that question on a global scale and try to pinpoint a dollar figure showing how much the world has saved by investing in solar power.
Here you’ll find the answer, along with some eye-opening stats about solar power in Australia that clearly show how our usage stacks up against the rest of the world.
Global Cost Savings – The All-Important $ Figure
Let’s begin with the answer to the big question – the true value of solar power. According to the first-ever globalised solar cost-savings study of the three largest solar-deploying countries (China, Germany and the US), the world saved $67 billion by using solar power.
The study took a historical deep dive into installed solar capacities, solar panel module input material and sales price data between 2006 and 2020 to come up with that figure.
Additional figures from Ember, a global independent energy think tank, show the EU saved almost $30 billion in fossil gas imports after a bumper summer of solar usage in 2022.
According to the International Energy Agency, solar power generation jumped by a record 22% in 2021 and now accounts for 3.6% of global electricity generation. It’s also the cheapest source of electricity in history. Talk about energy bill savings!
Australia – The Top Solar Power Players
So how does the land of Oz fair in the solar power generation game? Well, it’s fair to say we’re pretty high achievers!
In 2021, almost 30% of Australia’s total electricity generation came from renewable energy sources, and solar topped that list at 12%. Small-scale solar generation grew by 29% in 2021 and large-scale by 4%. While that might not sound like much, it represents a five-year growth rate of a whopping 1747%.
Much of this growth comes primarily from Aussie households, with one in three (over 3 million homes) now generating solar power.
As for our representation on the world stage, we take out the top spot with the highest installed solar capacity per person at over 1kW. The second spot’s not even close on our tails – the Netherlands at 818kW!
The Power of Solar
We hope you’ve enjoyed uncovering just how much the world has saved by using solar power. As governments across the globe continue to work towards their clean energy targets, this figure is bound to rise (possibly to $18 trillion by 2050 if this combined Monash University and Oxford University study is anything to go by!).
If you’ve yet to take advantage of the power of solar, you might like to review our complimentary articles about the benefits of switching, as well as the best solar panels to buy.
Alternatively, feel free to connect with one of our solar specialists. They’ll be more than happy to chat with you about all things solar and how you can cut down those hefty energy bills.
