Queensland is leading the way in solar power and battery storage as the number of Australian homes adopting the technology has seen a dramatic increase in the past two years.

One-and-a-half million solar-powered homes in Australia now generate around half of their own electricity needs as the price of household systems tumbles.

The solar power landscape has changed so quickly that regulators for Australia's power industry were struggling to keep up, according to Energy Storage Council chief John Grimes.

"Queensland is not only an Australian leader, it's a global leader," Mr Grimes said.

"Over 32 per cent of homes in Queensland have solar panels on their rooftops, so it's actually the biggest power plant in Queensland, which is a fantastic achievement."

Mr Grimes said the rise in uptake of household solar systems had happened without much government support.

"It's just about governments getting out of the way and letting cost-effective technology actually do its job," he said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 5 minutes 11 seconds 5 m Listen to Nance Haxton's story on PM Download 9.5 MB

Brisbane resident and IT director Roger Franklin, who works from home, said becoming his own electricity generator was not a difficult decision.

"[The battery] is actually very small — there are no moving parts, it doesn't make any noise," Mr Franklin said.

"It basically charges up all morning, sits at 100 per cent all afternoon, and then discharges out overnight."

While he said he was a small power user, Mr Franklin said going off grid and onto solar power with a battery was becoming far more accessible for more people.

"My gas has gone from $180 a quarter to about $25 a quarter, and that saving's going to be $5,000 over 10 years, so it's a considerable amount of money," he said.

Solar systems beneficial for remote communities

Tim Latimer, of Redback Technologies, a Queensland company which sells home solar systems, said the technology had many benefits.

"We have batteries in our system too, so any excess power they generate they can store in the battery and use later at night," Mr Latimer said.

"So the end game at the moment is not to sell into the grid — the networks give a very low amount of money for your energy created.

"It's essentially just to empower [the individual user] to do what they want to do with their energy."

Mr Latimer said solar battery technology had improved so quickly that it was forcing costs down, largely pushed by the electric car market overseas.

He said the technology could have the greatest impact in remote communities poorly served by traditional power networks.

"There's many, many Indigenous communities around Australia in remote regions that pay upwards of 60 cents per kilowatt on energy because of the diesel generation costs," Mr Latimer said.

"So we can introduce storage systems into those communities, so solar with storage definitely increases that reliability."