Landlord Robin Thomas is "very pro-renewables" but decided to pass on putting solar panels on his rental properties in Australia's sunniest region.

Key points: The Northern Territory has a higher proportion of renters than the rest of the nation

The Northern Territory has a higher proportion of renters than the rest of the nation The NT Government uses a quarter of all electricity in the Territory

The NT Government uses a quarter of all electricity in the Territory Only four per cent of the energy used in the NT is renewable

His reason was simple — cost.

While a solar unit would give tenants cheaper power, all he would get as a landlord was the installation bill, which one expert said would range in price from $8,000 to $12,000.

Finding a way to make solar energy pay off for landlords as well as renters could soon be imperative for the Northern Territory, as it strives to lift its renewable energy consumption to 50 per cent by 2030.

The NT has the highest proportion of renters in Australia, at 42 per cent, and the dearth of investment incentives for landlords means many dwellings are without solar panels.

Experts say it's one of the reasons the NT's adoption of renewable energy is so dismal, at just four per cent, despite the jurisdiction receiving more sunshine than anywhere else in Australia.

But Mr Thomas remained optimistic, saying he would "certainly be open to exploring any developments" in schemes that made it attractive for landlords to invest in solar for their rental properties.

Jurisdiction NT NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT AUS Renters (%) 42.0 30.6 27.7 33.3 31.4 28.6 26.0 31.7 30.3

Source: ABS Household characteristics, 2015-2016

Encouraging landlords to invest in solar

Interstate, innovative schemes are coming onto the market designed to provide incentives for landlords to invest in solar panels.

But they're yet to reach the NT, said Jeremy Hunt, managing director of Country Solar NT.

He said he had installed some solar units on rental properties for NT landlords, and believed they had made the investment in an effort to lock in good tenants.

It's a tactic real estate agent Rick Trippe believed was effective, saying if there were two identical properties but one had solar, renters would always choose it first.

But he also said tenants were not demanding solar power — opting for extras such as swimming pools instead — and thought solar was "something that would be nice to have".

Given it was also a "massive upfront cost" for landlords, he thought the Goverment should be offering landlords more incentives.

The NT Government was looking at how to encourage home owners to invest in renewable energy for their rental properties, said Minister for Renewables Dale Wakefield.

"[A review] will include stakeholder consultations on how Government can support initiatives to encourage investments in solar on rental properties and low-income households," she said.

Roadmap to Renewables report author Alan Langworthy said when the high proportion of renters was taken out of the equation, the take-up of solar by NT households was on par with other states.

"The percentage of take-up for normal residential properties is the same as everywhere else in Australia," he said.

"So we were very pleased to find the general population were just as enthusiastic for solar up here as they are down south."

Additional commercial solar farms are also in the pipeline, including Epuron and Island Green Power's $40 million 25-megawatt Katherine Solar Farm, and Rimfire Energy's solar farm at Batchelor.

The NT receives more solar radiation than anywhere else in Australia. ( Supplied: BOM )

Calls for more solar on government buildings

The stakeholder currently posing the biggest barrier to the NT reaching its renewable energy target could be the very same one that set it.

The NT Government uses 25 per cent of all electricity in the Territory, and Smart Energy NT's Geoff Goodrich said it needed to step up its commitment to getting it from renewable sources.

"They need to start putting solar on their own buildings wherever possible," he said.

Mr Langworthy said he had recommended the Government switch its purchase of electricity from gas to solar.

Asked how much of the NT Government's own power usage came from renewables, Ms Wakefield said it was not possible to determine.

However, she pointed to a range of Government-owned assets where power was sourced from solar, including on government buildings and school rooftops.

Impact of existing gas contracts

Questions have also been raised about what impacts the NT's renewables target will have on its existing gas contracts, given 96 per cent of its current energy supply comes from gas and diesel.

In 2006, the NT Government-owned Power and Water Corporation signed an agreement with Italian company ENI to buy gas from its Blacktip gas field until 2035, on a take or pay agreement.

The deal is believed to provide more than enough gas to service the Territory's existing needs, which will drop as more renewables come into play.

However Asian conglomerate Jemena is planning to build a 622-kilometre Northern Gas Pipeline from Tennant Creek to Mt Isa, which could be used to sell some of the extra gas to eastern states.

For this reason, some experts said the transition to renewables should have a minimal impact on the Government's existing gas contracts.

A spokesperson for Power and Water said any moves that increase renewable energy participation and therefore offset traditional thermal generation would have an impact on these contracts.

But they also said these moves might attract other industries to the NT that were reliant on gas to take advantage of the available resources.

Ms Wakefield said the Government was undertaking market modelling to consider likely issues and opportunities with the existing gas commitments.

Why solar?

Nationwide, most renewable energy is generated through a combination of solar and wind.

However in the Roadmap to Renewables report, author Alan Langworthy advised solar PV was the "most prospective" type of renewable energy for the Territory, as it had low average wind speed but very high levels of solar radiation.

He said this would require energy storage through batteries to maintain a reliable supply.

Solar power appears to be the most suitable form of renewable energy for the Northern Territory. ( Supplied: ISAC NT )

Ms Wakefield said the Government had invested $4.5 million for co-contribution grants of up to $1,000 for households to undertake energy efficient measures, which included installing batteries.

Yet there is currently no other incentive for homeowners to install batteries to store their solar energy, as Power and Water Corporation offers the nation's most generous feed-in tariff at a rate of one-to-one.

This means users are well-paid for returning excess solar to the grid, no matter at what time of day they do it.

Mr Hunt from Country Solar NT said in other states consumers were rewarded for storing their solar, because the tariff structure meant they could earn more by selling it to the grid at certain times.

He said that had led to less investment in solar storage batteries in NT compared to other places.

However these tariffs are currently being reviewed.

"As the cost of batteries reduce, we need to be ready to encourage Territorians to invest in this technology," Ms Wakefield said.

ABC Darwin's two-part series on renewable energy continues tomorrow, when we look into a looming decision that could see half the capacity shut off at the Northern Territory's largest power station.