It's probably related to the fact that they're the top exporter and a top-5 producer of coal. The "Market" means you use what's cheap, and coal must be very che

It's probably related to the fact that they're the top exporter and a top-5 producer of coal. The "Market" means you use what's cheap, and coal must be very cheap to purchase (and burn) there. Further, setting up solar panel infrastructure is high up-front capital expense, and the Australian banks that might finance such expenditures are notoriously risk averse, and likely have plenty of assets tied up in the coal industry, so they'd have no interest in disrupting it. Toss in the idea that cheap coal probably equals cheap electricity, whereas solar would be relatively expensive (most countries get with now-mature solar industries circumvent this by subsidizing nascent solar generators). That's a killer recipe for maintaining the status quo.