Until a little over a year ago solar power was a fringe industry, mostly run by dedicated, technical-minded hippies.
Then climate change exploded as an issue, Al Gore became an environmental superstar and the Howard Government increased the rebate for the installation of panels for solar power production from $4,000 to $8,000.
Today solar for power production (as opposed to solar for hot water – another rapidly growing industry) is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Australian economy and the old hippies fear being swamped by “carpetbaggers” and shipping container loads of cheap panels.
The statistics are extraordinary. In January 2000 the number of watts installed nationally was close to zero. Until the middle of 2007 it hovered between 100,000 and 200,000 watts installed nationally each month – an average household installation produces a kilowatt of power.
Then in July last year the figure spiked at over 400,000 watts and continued to climb reaching 776,000 watts in December 2007.
Long-time solar installers like the owner of LJW Solar, Luke Williams, warn that the reputation of the industry is currently at stake.
Even those charged with overseeing the industry have raised concerns with Standards Australia and the Federal Government.
Ted Spooner is a senior lecturer in the School of Electrical Engineering at the University of NSW and the chair of Standards Australia’s sub committee on the solar industry.
Spooner says there are problems with some panels from Asia.
“There’s justifiable concern about some of the cheaper imports coming in,” Spooner says. “There are a number of companies that simply see dollar signs and they’re not necessarily meeting some of the international standards of hail resistance and durability that all good manufacturers qualify to.”
He says the current leading solar panel producers in Australia have “very good ethical practices and produce durable modules with a long lifetime.”
Even these companies, however, are to be subjected to new independent testing rather than self-assessment.
“There’s always teething problems with any industry that is growing at a fast rate,” Spooner says.
Luke Williams, who is one of the state’s largest installers of stand-alone solar power systems, says that dramatic intervention from authorities is needed.
Without action people will end up with panels on their roof that do not work and, even worse, he says, they may be dangerous.
It is not just a matter of the established installers trying to protect their turf from newcomers.
Everyone, including the body that oversees the industry acknowledge there are significant problems and challenges.
In the last week meetings have taken place between the body charged with overseeing the solar industry, the Clean Energy Council, and Standards Australia to change the assessment criteria for panels sold in Australia.
In the wake of masses of cheaper panels being imported into Australia from Asia, particularly China and Korea, new requirements for panels may be in place by the end of the year.
Most importantly it has been recommended that for the first time every solar panel installed by an accredited installer will have to be assessed by an independent laboratory if it is to qualify for a government rebate. Currently manufacturers are obliged only to self-assess their panels.
Williams says the biggest problem with the existing testing regime is that it is difficult to police the quality and durability of imported panels.
Panels installed by a company like BP, Williams says, have been trialled and tested in Australian conditions for decades and have a proven track record. They are usually covered by warranty for a quarter of a century.
But the likely longevity of a panel is not assessed by the current standard, Williams says. This means that while a cheap panel may pump out 80 watts when it is first installed there is a high probability it will not work in a decade’s time. Williams asks: even if it is still under warranty will the company that sold it still be around?
“Some of this stuff coming in from Asia is going to fail,” Williams says. “There’s no way of testing the longevity of these units and the person in the street has no way of knowing whether they are buying a panel that is going to last.
Until now the industry has been mostly run by people who are doing it because they believe in solar power.
Now, however, large outfits are sweeping into the sector driven primarily by a quick dollar.
Installers have a blunt warning for their industry: keep the carpetbaggers out or solar power will get a bad name.
“It’s a classic case of a business going through massive growth and the government is going to have to do something different,” says Williams.
Another issue of major concern is with grid feeding systems. They are increasingly popular in urban areas, allowing householders to produce electricity which is sent back into the grid. But they produce very high DC voltages. If not installed properly there is a very small risk of a house fire in a customer’s roof.
With grid interactive systems you are working with 600 volt DC. They are deadly dangerous,” Williams says.
The Clean Energy Council confirmed that it has made recommendations for changes to the standard on grid feeding systems. A spokesman said that the biggest risk came in areas prone to vermin, which are known to chew cables coming out of the panels. If damaged the cables can produce what is known as a “DC arc” which can set a roof on fire.
The recommended changes to the standard will require installers to properly protect DC wiring in areas prone to vermin.
Spooner says that the DC arc problem will be addressed in new Australian and international standards currently out for public comment. If implemented it will require among other things, more adequate insulation of DC cables.
Another issue the Clean Energy Council is monitoring is the quality of solar installations.
In order to qualify for the Federal Government’s $8,000 rebate every installation needs to be signed off by an installer accredited by the Clean Energy Council. These installers have had to go through months of training to obtain the accreditation and most of these formally recognised installers are electricians.
The growth in accredited installers has also been rapid.
In May 2007 there was 240 accredited installers and there are now 420.
What makes a solar installer unique is that they work across a range of trades – they are often up on roofs and are responsible for keeping their component of work watertight. They work with electricity and they do welding of the frames that hold up the panels. Done incorrectly this work poses some risk to roofs and can be a hazard to both the installer and the public.
One installer told the Herald: “It is only a matter of time before a panel blows off a roof and someone is killed.”
This is why it is of critical concern to installers that the auditing of the workmanship remains of the highest standard.
Williams says this is currently not the case. He has anecdotal reports of accredited installers signing the rebate forms on jobs they have never seen.
The Clean Energy Council confirmed that such cases had come before them. They cited an example of one accredited installer who had signed off on a solar panel set-up which was interstate and which he hadn’t seen.
The Council said the individual was disciplined but did not have their accreditation taken away. Since then the Council and the federal government have worked to tighten accreditation procedures.
A spokesman for the council said there was a program underway that audited as many installations as possible across all states.
The goal was 10 per cent of installations per year and at least one job by each accredited installer.
Luke Williams believes that the current explosion of the solar industry is the beginning of a revolution in power production.
“This is going to be bigger than the computer revolution,” Williams says.

“But there needs to be more thought going into this industry.”

First Published Sydney Morning Herald 11/4/08