Post-COP30: Why distributed solar is becoming the world’s fastest-scaling power technology
Post-COP30 analysis has centred on the contentious debate over fossil-fuel phase-out wording. Yet the most significant development for the solar sector was not part of the negotiating text at all.
December 12, 2025 Heidi Lee Douglas
L-R: Solar Citizens National Advocacy Lead Charlie Rodrick, CANSEA Director Nithi Nesaduri and Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas
Image: Solar Citizens
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It was the clear and growing consensus that distributed rooftop solar — paired with batteries — is now one of the fastest-scaling and most economically compelling clean energy technologies in the world.
This was evident across side events, pavilion presentations, bilateral meetings and civil society panels in Belém. From Pakistan to Kenya, Nepal to Indonesia, rooftop PV is increasingly the preferred entry point into clean energy because it is modular, fast to deploy, capital-light, and highly responsive to both economic and climatic pressures.
For Solar Citizens – Australia’s community-led rooftop solar advocacy organisation — COP30 offered an opportunity to highlight Australia’s unique experience with high rooftop penetration, push for stronger domestic commitments (including doubling rooftop solar by 2035), and initiate the formation of a Rooftop Solar Alliance across the Asia-Pacific. [1]
The broader lesson from COP30 is clear: the centre of gravity in global solar deployment is shifting toward distributed systems, and markets that recognise this will be better positioned to build resilient, consumer-centred energy systems.
Distributed solar demand is accelerating across the Global South
One of the strongest themes at COP30 came from countries where grid infrastructure is limited and electricity prices volatile: rooftop solar and small-scale storage are now essential economic tools.
Renewables First Pakistan Manager Basit Ghauri Image: Solar Citizens
Pakistan stands out. As Basit Ghauri of Renewables First explained:
“Two years back the whole power sector was really struggling — the biggest was really, really high electricity prices. And here comes solar (energy), the cheapest source available. That led to some really massive increases in solar imports in Pakistan. From 2 GW to 17 GW coming in. Collectively we imported more solar than the total installed capacity on the grid.” [2]
This rapid scale-up has occurred without major regulatory reforms, driven almost entirely by consumers seeking price relief and reliability.
Global Solar Council CEO Sonia Dunlop Image: Solar Citizens
At Solar Citizens’ Raise the Roof! event, Global Solar Council Chief Executive Officer Sonia Dunlop described how households in Pakistan are adopting systems:
“People… are climbing up onto their own roofs, watching a video on Tic Toc (to) put panels on their roof, (and) storage in their living room.”
Her example of Farida — a single mother in Karachi who sold jewellery and borrowed funds to buy a two-panel system and a small battery to keep her home cool during extreme heat — is emblematic of bottom-up solar adoption in regions facing dual stresses: energy inflation and climate extremes. [3]
Beyond Pakistan there is a global pattern.
India’s Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav shared how fifty per cent of the country’s installed electricity capacity already comes from renewables and they achieved this five years ahead of schedule.
This was largely in part thanks to their world-leading, ten million rooftop solar project, which was achieved very quickly and is community-owned.
Solar imports to Africa rose 60% in the last year, mostly small-scale systems for homes, farms and microbusinesses. In August this year, Kasakula in rural Malawi became the country’s first village to receive 100% universal access to solar power. From Nairobi, to Lagos, to Kampala— communities are turning to distributed solar because it simply works.
Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist at Ember, captured the structural shift:
“Some 80% of the world lives in countries that import coal, gas, petrol and diesel… whereas 92% of countries have the potential to generate renewable energy more than 10 times their current demand… The lucky few countries have got them [fossil fuels], but renewables, of course, are everywhere … Everyone can do it.” [4]
With module prices continuing to fall, distributed PV is increasingly the default pathway where grid expansion lags demand growth.
What Australia’s experience teaches high-growth solar markets
Australia has the world’s highest rooftop solar penetration, with one in three households hosting PV systems. The country offers several lessons relevant to markets scaling distributed energy rapidly:- Consumer energy resources (CER) become central grid assets at scale.
Home PV and storage systems now contribute meaningfully to peak reduction, reliability and system resilience. - Policy design must evolve alongside technology adoption.
Australia’s journey — through feed-in tariffs, rebates, VPP trials and now battery incentives — demonstrates that distributed solar requires adaptive regulation. - Community support is a structural advantage.
As Smart Energy Council Chief Executive Officer John Grimes noted at COP30:
“There is a spontaneous depth of support for the (clean energy) transition which is profound… and unstoppable.” - Advocacy matters.
Organisations like Solar Citizens play a critical role in ensuring that households — not only utilities — influence policy development.
As rooftop penetration has grown, Solar Citizens is now pushing for expanded access so that renters, low-income households and small businesses can benefit too. - Battery investment accelerates when government supports market mechanisms.
The federal government’s new $2.3 billion (USD 1.5 billion) battery incentive has driven 1,000 installations per day since July — more than 125,000 new systems. [5]
For countries considering how to integrate distributed PV into national planning, Australia’s experience provides a real-world demonstration of how consumer technologies can become major system assets.
Speaking at Solar Citizens’ COP30 event, Let’s Raise the Roof!’ are L-R, Smart Energy Council CEO John Grimes, Global Solar Council CEO Sonia Dunlop, Open Solar CEO Andrew Birch. Image: Solar Citizens
Systemic challenges remain — and grid reform is essential
Despite huge demand for rooftop PV, developing countries continue to face systemic barriers including: financing constraints; limited installer capacity; grid codes designed for centralised thermal generation, and lack of remuneration for distributed flexibility and services
Sonia Dunlop articulated the core issue:
“In many countries… the power system was designed in the 50s and 60s for centralised thermal generation… The rules of the wholesale and services markets… are designed for those big power stations.”
The Global Solar Council’s new policy blueprint, Connecting the Sun, identifies 29 actions to enable distributed PV and storage to contribute system-level value, including: dynamic grid codes; access to ancillary services markets; streamlined interconnection; time-varying tariffs, and consumer-level flexibility incentives. [6]
The ability to integrate distributed solar and storage into grid operations — not merely as self-consumption assets — is emerging as a major determinant of clean energy success.
A new Asia-Pacific Rooftop Solar Alliance takes shape
Recognising both the opportunities and the systemic barriers, Solar Citizens used COP30 to begin forming a Rooftop Solar Alliance across the Asia-Pacific. Initial engagement included organisations from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The Alliance aims to:- share distributed energy policy models
- strengthen civil society participation in energy planning
- encourage national rooftop commitments ahead of COP31
- support the rapid roll-out of rooftop PV and batteries across the region
For many Asia-Pacific nations, rooftop PV offers an immediate pathway to reducing energy costs, improving resilience and reducing import dependency. Civil society, industry and community-level coordination will be critical to accelerating uptake.
Post-COP30: Distributed PV becomes a strategic global asset
A clear theme emerged in Belém: distributed solar is no longer peripheral to energy planning. It is now a central pillar of the global transition because it: deploys rapidly; supports grid stability at high penetration levels; complements utility-scale renewables; empowers consumers; builds climate resilience; shifts peak demand, and reduces reliance on imported fuels.
Rooftop PV, particularly when paired with storage, is becoming a structural component of modern energy systems.
As distributed solar spreads across Karachi, Lagos, Dhaka and Manila — and as Australia’s experience informs policy development across the region — the next decade of global solar deployment will be defined not only by utility-scale generation, but by millions of rooftops acting as intelligent, flexible grid assets.
It is clear, post COP-30, that the distributed PV revolution has moved from the margins to the mainstream, and its global acceleration is now inevitable.
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Author: Heidi Lee Douglas, Chief Executive Officer, Solar Citizens, Australia
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Sources:
[1] COP30 Yellow Book, Solar Citizens November, 2025
[2] Interview with Basit Ghauri, Renewables First, Pakistan, Solar Citizens, 3min
[3] Let’s Raise the Roof! COP30 event, Australian Pavilion 13 November 2025
[4] Away from COP30 and treaties, pragmatism sparks clean energy boom in the global south, ABC newsonline, Jo Lauder, 22/11/2025
[5] Climate & Energy Minister Chris Bowen speech to COP30, Belem, 18/11/2025
[6] Connecting the Sun – Grid integration, Battery Storage, Flexibility, Stability and Electrification, Global Solar Council
pv-magazine-australia.com
My comments:
Distributed solar and storage is already a huge gamechanger for millions of residential and commercial properties around the world today.
And as I stated decades ago here on SI....
No grid required.
Eric |
