Australian SunSPOT Solar Calculator
About SunSPOT
About SunSPOT and the APVI
SunSPOT was built by photovoltaic engineers and data analysts from UNSW’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Engineering (SPREE) and not-for-profit solar research organisation The Australian PV Institute.
The user-focused design and enhanced development of this latest version of SunSPOT was made possible with support from the Australian Government.
SunSPOT’s development has also been supported by the NSW and ACT governments, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP).
Contact Us
For council subscription enquiries please email SunSPOT@apvi.org.au
For media enquiries please email SunSPOT@apvi.org.au
For help using SunSPOT, please see our FAQs.
You’ll find useful information if you hover over the information icons in the tool.
Users of the tool can report an issue or provide feedback here.
Council staff can provide feedback here.
The SunSPOT Team
Project Leads:
Anna Bruce, Mike Roberts
Treasurer (APVI):
Rob Passey
Data Analytics Lead:
Nargess Nourbakhsh
Communications and Council Liaison Lead:
Alison Potter
Research, Data Processing, Analytics and Technical Support (UNSW):
Ellie Kallmier, Lauren Ashby, Paolo Gonzalez, Zahra Rahimpour, Russell Kindler, Mohammad Dehghanimadvar, Brendan Sheahan
With thanks to:
Renate Egan, Jessie Copper, Navid Haghdadi, Phoebe Dennis
What is the Australian PV Institute?
The Australian PV Institute is a not-for-profit, member-based organisation providing data analysis and collaborative research to support the development and uptake of solar photovoltaics and related technologies.
In conjunction with academia, governments and industry, APVI develops high quality solar analysis tools. See, for example, this map of Australian councils showing the estimated percentage of dwellings that have a solar PV system and the total photovoltaic capacity installed.
APVI members are organisations and individuals from industry and academia with an interest in solar energy research, technology, manufacturing, systems, policies, programs and projects.
The APVI organises the Asia-Pacific Solar Research Conference (APSRC) and provides the structure through which Australia participates in two International Energy Agency (IEA) programs. Our work is intended to be apolitical and of use not only to our members but also to the general community.
APVI is a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee.
About the data used in SunSPOT’s calculations
SunSPOT draws on sophisticated datasets and algorithms to assess individual rooftops for solar. The calculations are more customised to your circumstances if you provide meter data or details about your electricity usage, and your electricity pricing.
SunSPOT draws on Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather data to calculate solar radiation on a roof surface across a typical year. SunSPOT’s system and battery price estimates are drawn from Solar Choice’s solar and battery price indexes.
When a household or business’s electricity usage and electricity price details are not provided, SunSPOT uses machine learning to generate a typical electricity usage profile, based on climate region, household characteristics, appliance ownership or business type, and a typical electricity plan and solar feed-in tariff for the appropriate network area to provide estimates of savings.
There are two versions of SunSPOT –
The standard version that is available for use everywhere in Australia, without a charge to councils, which estimates solar generation based on user inputs of roof slope and shading.
A premium version which shows the best place for solar panels on a roof based on the slope, orientation and shading of the roof planes, and which provides a more accurate estimate of solar generation for each hour of the year. This version is free for users but requires a subscription by the local council.
When a council takes up a subscription to make the premium version available to homeowners and businesses in the area, the local government area is mapped into the tool. This involves 3D spatial analysis using LiDAR data to determine the orientation and slope across each square metre of roof, and assess the shading throughout the year at each data point, resulting in more accurate estimates of output and savings.
You can email your Council to suggest they consider a subscription to the premium version of SunSPOT below. Find your Council’s email address, and add your suburb and name to the email, or write your own.
Disclaimer
Although we have made every attempt to ensure the results from SunSPOT are as accurate as possible, it is important to understand that they are only estimates.
They rely on the accuracy of the underlying mapping and solar radiation data used, and the modelling for solar generation and usage is based on weather in a typical year. The financial savings are initially based on average electricity usage profiles and indicative tariffs.
You can improve the accuracy of your results by adding in more information about your electricity usage and tariffs, but they will still be estimates and should not be taken as a recommendation.
If you include a battery, it will be modelled only to minimise export to the grid and import from the grid, and so may not reflect other ways a battery could be operated.
By using this tool, users are deemed to have consented to this condition and agree that this tool is used entirely at their own risk. UNSW, the APVI and/or the Commonwealth of Australia are not responsible for any action taken or not taken in reliance on the tool.