A decade-old solar boom is now hitting end-of-life
Victoria installed hundreds of thousands of rooftop systems in 2011–2014. Those inverters are failing now — and there's no coordinated plan to find, recover, or recycle them.
Victorian rooftop solar — systems installed per year
12+ yrs — failing nowageing (≤5 yrs to EOL)still in service
Rooftop systems in Victoria
878,220
~20% of every solar system in Australia
Already 12+ years old
248k
installed by 2014 — at inverter end-of-life right now
PV waste by 2035
26k t/yr
up from 3k t in 2021 — +15% every year
● RealVictorian install counts per year (CER) and state PV waste projections (Sustainability Victoria)·◌ Illustrativeage-band split is our estimate from install year + typical 10–15 yr inverter lifeSource: Clean Energy Regulator (to Apr 2026) · Sustainability Victoria — PV material flow analysis
