Note: the originally scheduled seminar, ‘Gender corporate culture’, has been cancelled.

Australia has among the highest rates of rooftop solar uptake in the world. Using postcode-level data up to March 2018, we find that middle-income areas have the highest uptake of small-scale solar systems. Uptake is also higher in postcodes with higher mortgage dependence. There are spatial spill-overs among neighbouring postcodes, likely indicative of peer effects. We also calculate a subsidy elasticity of solar installations of 0.7 for the federal government’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. This corresponds to around $36 per tonne of carbon dioxide emission abatement for the subsidy alone. The results are useful for policymakers considering current or new policies supporting small-scale solar, including for countries that currently lag Australia in adoption rates.