Australian rooftops added a record of almost 500 megawatts of new solar photovoltaic capacity in the March quarter, as Victoria's incentive scheme stoked a 90 per cent increase in that state's installations.

Data gathered by Green Energy Markets show the sector added about 45 per cent more capacity of solar PV - in systems of 100 kilowatts or smaller in size - compared with the January-March period a year earlier.

Solar panel installation on Michael Peters' house in Balgowlah Heights.

"It's usually a little bit slow in January and February but [previous records] have really been blown away," said Tristan Edis, director of analysis at Green Energy Markets, a consultancy firm.

The first-quarter installations of about 482MW were led by Victoria, where the Daniel Andrews government's $2250 rebate per unit helped propel that state above sunnier neighbours Queensland and NSW.