Solar panel installation flag (administrative data) (SPIAD)
Definition
This variable indicates whether a dwelling has a rooftop solar panel installed under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES).
The SRES is an Australian Government initiative that began in April 2001 to encourage investment in small-scale renewable energy. It provides incentives to install systems such as rooftop solar panels, solar batteries, solar water heaters, and air-sourced heat pumps. This variable indicates whether a rooftop solar panel system was installed under the SRES.
This variable is not derived from data collected in the Census. It is created by linking administrative data from the SRES to Census data and does not include any other systems (for example, solar batteries) available under the scheme.
Dwellings that are on the SRES administrative dataset and do not have a solar panel are included in category 2 ‘No solar panels installed under the small-scale renewable energy scheme’. This category also captures dwellings that are not in the SRES.
Scope
All dwellings
Categories
| Code | Category |
|---|---|
| 1 | Solar panels installed under the small-scale renewable energy scheme |
| 2 | No solar panels installed under the small-scale renewable energy scheme |
| @ | Not applicable |
Number of categories: 3
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
- migratory, offshore and shipping SA1s
See Understanding supplementary codes for more information.
Question(s) from the Census form
This variable is not collected from a question on the Census form.
How this variable is created
This variable is derived by linking administrative data on rooftop solar installations to Census dwellings. The administrative data identifies dwellings with rooftop solar panel installations recorded under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES).
The SRES includes information from small-scale technology certificates (STC) that are used for solar rebates and provide high-quality household data. Once the data is received it is geocoded to an address register ID (ARID) which is then merged onto the Census dataset.
The resulting variable is included in Census output products and indicates whether a dwelling has a rooftop solar panel installation recorded under the scheme. Counts are produced for all Australian dwellings, including those where the variable is not applicable.
History and changes
This is a new variable which was added to the 2021 Census dataset in September 2026.
Data use considerations
This variable is based on solar panel information collected from administrative data, and not data collected from a Census question.
There are a very small number of dwellings in the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) that were unable to be linked to a Census record. It is suspected that most of these unlinked dwellings are non-residential dwellings and therefore were not in scope for the Census. These dwellings are not included in this question.
There is a very small count of dwellings that were in scope of the SRES, and the Census, but were unable to be linked to the administrative dataset. These dwellings are in category 2 'No solar panels installed under the small-scale renewable energy scheme'.
A limitation of the SRES administrative dataset is that it only includes installation information; it does not record if the system has subsequently been decommissioned.
This variable is not a complete count of dwellings with solar panels in Australia; rather it is dwellings that have had solar panels installed under the SRES. It does not include dwellings that have installed solar panels outside of the SRES.