By Liz Hobday, Chris Gillett and Danny Tran / ABC News

Australia’s solar industry is “effectively unregulated” and consumers are falling victim to “predatory” sales tactics which pressure them to buy expensive systems, according to new research.

New data released to the ABC’s 7.30 reveals concerns about the regulations around Australia’s burgeoning solar industry, which advocates say is outpacing laws designed to protect consumers.

The report poses serious questions for an industry which has installed solar panels on the rooftops of two million households.

According to the Sunny Side Up report from the Consumer Action Law Centre, close to 700 solar companies have gone out of business since 2011, leaving about 650,000 Australians with no recourse if their systems fail.

It found there were a number of “concerning trends” in the solar industry, including:

• “Predatory” high-pressure sales tactics
• Businesses going under, leaving people with worthless warranties and no recourse
• Australians being offered unaffordable credit to buy solar systems

Some solar businesses have also been known to “phoenix”, which refers to when they fold and then re-open in order to avoid paying out warranties or creditors.

“Unfortunately our solar sector is effectively unregulated,” said Gerard Brody, from the Consumer Action Law Centre.

“Many providers out there [are] looking at things like the government subsidies that are in place and are swarming like bees to a honeypot, wanting to make as much money, but not really interested in delivering a quality product and service.

“I think people that have managed to not have any problems whatsoever are probably the lucky ones. There are many people out there that have problems.”

‘After 20 years we might get our money back’

For people like Alex Smith, the choice to install solar at his property in Brisbane’s west has been a costly mistake.

Mr Smith’s solar system, which was installed in 2012 by Origin Energy, cost him about $9,000 after government subsidies.

He was hoping to lower his solar bills to just $100 a quarter.

But those expectations were soon shattered.

“The efficiency of the system was nowhere near what I was told it would be and the returns were very disappointing,” Mr Smith said.

“It became obvious very quickly that it was not delivering anywhere near the sort of return that a three-kilowatt system should.

“For the $9,000 investment, the dent it’s made has not been worthwhile. I think possibly after 20 years we might get our money back.”

In addition to being in the wrong place on his property, Mr Smith said three of his solar inverters failed.

The first two failed within his five-year warranty period.

“It failed again for a third time just in February and Origin say: ‘Well of course now it’s all out of warranty, we’ll replace it for you at a cost, $2,600 to replace it and by the way, we know that brand’s no good, so we’ll use a different brand,'” he said.

“They’ve acknowledged that the brand was not fit for purpose, that they’ve had to change brands, but they still expect me to stump up the $2,600 to pay for it. I don’t believe under consumer law that’s fair.”

Mr Smith lodged a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading in Queensland.

Origin Energy refunded him after 7.30 made enquiries on his behalf.

“We always try to put our customers first and get things right for our customers. Now unfortunately in this situation, we made a mistake and we didn’t get it right,” said Jon Briskin, Origin’s executive general manager of retail.

“I understand it’s since been fixed and we’ve offered to replace that inverter at no charge.

“There were historical issues in the industry across solar inverters, but we stand behind our products, we stand behind our service.”

‘Too many shonks in the system’

But Mr Smith is one of the few customers to have his matter resolved.

The chairman of Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, acknowledged the industry is grappling with issues.

“You just saw this swarm of people come into a market where you actually didn’t have many people in the market,” Mr Sims said.

“So a whole lot of new players came in and that’s always a bit of a worry,” he said.

Mr Brody has called for stronger regulations around the sale of solar in Australia.

“There is a problem with too many shonks in the system,” he said.

“Australia obviously needs to move to carbon neutrality. Solar is a key way to ensure that we do have renewable power but we need a consumer protection framework,” he said.

“We need rules and standards in place to ensure people are protected.”

Solar panel recycler overwhelmed with demand

As new solar installers flood the market, so do the number of panels heading to the landfill.

Solar panels are meant to last for about a quarter of a century, but the first wave of solar panels are reaching the end of their life, or failing because of wear and tear.

Most solar panels are destined for landfill but a small company near Adelaide is leading the way in recycling them and it is barely keeping up with demand.

“We’re doing about 500 to 600 [panels] a day,” Clive Fleming from Reclaim PV said.

“We collect panels from all around Australia.

“Every state of Australia, we collect them and bring them back to our facility in SA. We’re working eight hours a day, sometimes 10, and we’re recycling about 40,000 panels a year.”

Reclaim PV strips down panels to their components and is able to recycle about 90 per cent of the materials.

But Mr Fleming said the size of Australia’s solar waste problem was being underestimated.

“We literally get hundreds of emails a month saying ‘I’m sick of taking these things to landfill’,” he said.

“Australians should be concerned about solar panel waste, it’s an emerging issue that’s coming up quickly.”

Energy Stuff specialises in Residential Solar with emphasis on Repairs, Replacements and upgrades. We also provide new systems, battery storage, Off-Grid systems and smart monitoring systems so call us if we can be of support 1300 656 205 or go to our website at http://www.energystuff.com.au

Written by Benjamin Preiss / The Age / 21 March 2019

Main image: Solar panel retailers will have to sign a code of conduct to participate in a state government scheme to put panels on Victorian households. CREDIT: GLENN HUNT

Solar panel retailers will have to sign up to a code of conduct to prevent dodgy operators joining a state government scheme to provide panels to 700,000 households.

The code of conduct will set safety and consumer protection requirements for large and small solar retailers.

Before the November election, the Andrews government promised to install half-price solar panels on the roofs of eligible Victorian households.

It also promised solar hot water rebates and batteries for some households that were ineligible for the half-price panels.

However, the government’s Solar Homes program has prompted concerns that unscrupulous retailers may seek to exploit the scheme by providing shoddy service.

Large retailers will have to join the Clean Energy Council’s solar retailer code of conduct from July this year if they wish to continue participating in the scheme.

Smaller retailers will have until November to comply with the code, which extends to advertising and pre-sale activities, the provision of a cooling-off period and adherence to warranties.

The code also requires retailers to take responsibility for work done by contractors.

So far, more than 30,000 households have applied to participate in the program across Victoria.

The penalties for breaching the code may include loss of Clean Energy Council approval or referral to other government agencies, including Consumer Affairs Victoria, WorkSafe and Energy Safe Victoria.

Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the government was making safety and quality the top priorities of the Solar Homes program.

“This code of conduct will make it easier for households to know what they’re entitled to and easier for retailers to do the right thing,” she said.

To be eligible for the government’s solar program, households must have a combined income no more than $180,000 and live in their own homes valued at up to $3 million.

The government extended its solar panel scheme to 50,000 rental properties in the lead-up to the November state election.

Energy Stuff provides a full range of new solar systems which can include battery ready inverters or systems with integrated battery storage. We also provide smart energy management systems which will continue to deliver energy saving benefits into the future. We only use CEC accredited installers and we fully comply with the Victorian Govt. Solar Rebate Program. Finance can be arranged for as little as $2.96 a day. For further information call 1300 656 205 or go to our website at https://ongrid.energystuff.com.au/new-solar-system/

Victorian Registered Electrical Contractor Licence # 27787

Written by Marija Maisch / PV Magazine / 14 March 2019

The latest statistics highlights Australia’s contribution to the global utility-scale solar PV installation figures.

Utility-scale solar generating capacity grew by almost 40 GW in 2018, reaching a total of 180 GW by year end, according to figures released today by Wiki-Solar, a U.K.-based compiler of utility-scale solar deployment data. While growth slowed down in the leading markets, the shortfall was made up by accelerating deployment in nations lower down the table, with Australia to the fore.

With central subsidies cut back in China under the government’s 5/31 New Policy announcement leading to an 18% fall in new PV capacity last year, the Trump Administration’s Section 201 tariffs taking a bite out of the U.S. market, and India affected by delayed and cancelled tenders, the utility-scale solar market was in for a slowdown. However, according to Wiki-Solar, the 2018 installation figures managed to match the record set in the previous year.

This was achieved thanks to the contribution of the rising utility-scale solar PV markets, led by Australia, Mexico and Brazil. The role of Australia is particularly highlighted as the only newcomer to the the top 10 nations. “Australia roughly quadrupled its installed capacity in 2018. Just four years ago, the country barely scraped into the top 30,” Wiki-Solar says.

The global utility-scale installation figures may vary, depending on the source. For instance, Wiki-Solar finds China added over 11 GW in 2018, while the data from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) indicate there was still 20 GW of large-scale, ground-mounted PV installed after the policy u-turn, after only 3.6 GW had been installed in the opening five months of the western calendar year.

But, the 2018 utility-scale solar boom in Australia is beyond any doubt. According to the figures released by Australia’s leading number crunchers Green Energy Markets, utility scale solar increased 300% – passing the 1,000 GWh milestone for the first time. A dataset compiled by Green Energy Trading showed there was 2,083 MW of big PV added last year, around half of it in Queensland, up from a meager 119 MW in 2017. 

Energy Stuff specialises in Residential Solar with emphasis on Repairs, Replacements and upgrades. We also provide new systems, battery storage, Off-Grid systems and smart monitoring systems so call us if we can be of support 1300 656 205 or go to our website at http://www.energystuff.com.au

Giles Parkinson / RenewEconomy / 12 March 2019

The Clean Energy Regulator has set a significantly higher target for certificates created by the small-scale renewable technology scheme, following the largely unexpected boom in rooftop solar in 2018.

The CER on Tuesday said the new target for 2019 would be 37 million certificates (STCs), which act as an up-front rebate on the cost of rooftop solar installations up to 100kW (and other small-scale renewable energy technologies too).

It is the highest target set since the start of the scheme in 2011, when a high “multiplier” resulted in an initial target of 28 million. The increase from 22 million in 2018 was widely expected after big growth in rooftop solar installations in 2018, when a record amount of 1.6GW was added to the grid.

“The calculated increase for 2019 is due to significantly more STCs being created in 2018 than projected and expected growth in STC creations in 2019, mainly from rooftop photovoltaic systems,” the regulator said.

But despite calls for the scheme to be scrapped, and fears in some quarters that the “clearing house” price of $40/MWh could be wound back, it appears to have been largely untouched.

Analysts say that the STC market had been operating under a cloud of uncertainty about whether government might reduce the clearing house price, particularly as it came under fire from trumped up claims in the Murdoch press – parroted widely by other media – about the cost of the system.

The Murdoch media claimed that the STC costs each household $200 a year. In fact, according to the Australian Energy Market Commission, it costs $32 a year. And while the increased target for 2019 may result in an rise in that cost, it would only be a few dollars.

And that does not include the benefits of rooftop solar, and its role in reducing the size of system peaks, pushing those peaks further into the evening, and lowering wholesale electricity prices.

Rooftop solar is also expected to form the basis of a major shift to a “decentralised” energy system, where around half of capacity and demand will be met by “distributed” resources such as solar, battery storage, electric vehicles and demand management.

Analysts said that the announcement from the CER should be seen as good news for the SRES, even though the target is front loaded and could cause “tightness” in the market in the first quarter.

The rebate is being progressively rolled back each year, and will be eliminated by 2030.

Some, however, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, supported by big utilities like Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia, have argued that it should be scrapped, saying that the cost of solar has come down enough.

Defenders of the rebate say that it means solar can now be sourced more easily by those on low to medium incomes, who already account for the lion’s share of the uptake of rooftop solar. And it makes it easier to design schemes that allow access to renters and apartment dwellers.

Energy Stuff specialises in Residential Solar with emphasis on Repairs, Replacements and upgrades. We also provide new systems, battery storage, Off-Grid systems and smart monitoring systems so call us if we can be of support 1300 656 205 or go to our website at http://www.energystuff.com.au

Written by PowerArk Solar

Solar inverters are an essential part of any solar system; they are the brains of the network. Aside from the solar inverter’s primary role to convert DC power created by the sun into usable AC power (what we plug into our walls), its job is ever expanding. Inverters empower installers and proprietors to monitor how a system is performing.  This solar component have developed from single function of converting energy to various capabilities and functions. Each inverter ought to give options for additional uses and capabilities such as administrations, data monitoring, utility controls and applications— all to guarantee the inverter can work at the maximum level. Besides, while inverters comprise a little percentage of the system’s cost, keeping them running as productively and dependably as possible is crucial. Optimized inverter performance prompts more output production, yielding better returns for homeowners.

According to Clean Energy, here are some of the criteria to be considered:

Quality & Reliability

The only way to know if a brand or specific model has a proven track record of highest quality and reliability is to ask help from the experts.  The first thing to look for in a solar inverter is to see if it follows with the relevant Australian Standard (AS4777). It can easily be checked by visiting Clean Energy Council’s approved products list on their website. If the brand or model you are eyeing falls on the list then it must be a good inverter to use in your solar PV system.

Service, Support and Warranty

Typically, inverters like grid connected inverters have a life span extending from 10 to 20 years. You ought to anticipate that most will last 10 years minimum. Clearly, the longer the warranty, the more insurance you have for your inverter. But don’t forget to balance it against the inverter’s features.

Features

Weather-proof, expandable and high-efficiency are just some of the best features of an inverter. These inverters are made to be weather-proof, so they can be in areas that may have some exposure to different elements. Non-weather-proof inverters may require some cages that will have an extra cost.

If you are intending to expand your solar power system in the future, you should consider buying multiple MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) inverter. These solar inverters have multiple MPPT trackers allowing you to add additional solar PV arrays later or install solar PV arrays at different orientations. Some solar panels have a small MPPT inverter attached to the rear of the module, usually called micro inverters.

An Inverter’s efficiency is as important of the features mentioned above. In inverter, efficiency is a measure of how well an inverter converts electricity it receives from energy sources into power that will be available in a home. Efficiency would only be a factor if two similar solar inverters had significantly different efficiency.

Monitoring

As mentioned earlier, inverters were not only made to simply convert DC power into useful energy in homes but can also be used to monitor the performance of a solar PV system. Some of the important information can be displayed are:

1. Amount of energy (kilowatt hours) you have produced daily,
2. the consumption of electricity (kilowatt hours) you have produced since the unit was installed
3. the amount of power (kilowatts) the unit is currently producing
4. the number of hours the unit has been producing power

Price

Inverters usually cost 20% of the whole solar system. Always remember not to buy the cheapest ones because there’s no chance of them lasting for 15 years plus. It better to buy reputable brands given that they are the most complex item on any solar PV system. In the event that you buy the inverter as a part of solar PV system, you can have a portion of the cost discounted as Small-scale Technology Certificates. You should bear the whole cost in case you’ll be needing to replace the inverter in any case, so it’s important to look for an inverter that will last.

Brands

Some of the best residential solar inverters in 2018 according to Clean Energy are:

1. Fronius – Primo and Galvo
2. SolarEdge – SE and HD wave
3. SMA – Sunny boy
4. Sungrow – SG-KLT

Aside from the mentioned solar inverters above, one of the brands that can check all the criteria enumerated is the recently launched Kehua (pronounced ‘kee-wah’) in the Australian market. The brand has a vision to provide reliable power solutions in various sectors from public power networks to residential power systems. Kehua integrating their passions and core values (Renewable, Reliable and Responsible) into their products making them an industrial-recognised Uninterruptible Power Supply and Critical Power Supply manufacturer.

In fact, their state of the art products are physical examples of high value/lower cost products with safe and reliable performance. This high-efficiency inverter is designed to reach up to 98.2% efficiency and it is the first cold-resistant inverter with superior operating temperature from -40C to 60C. Aside from that, this brand has an intelligent management system which save you from any hassle and update information about your system full record of Performance, Voltage Parameter, Temperature and so on in the form of graphs that can be export to Excel for a deeper analysis.

Whilst all of these inverters are an excellent choice for your solar power system, it is important to seek professional advice to determine which type or mode of inverter is the best for your system and energy needs.

Energy Stuff provides a full range of new solar systems which can include battery ready inverters or systems with integrated battery storage. We also provide smart energy management systems which will continue to deliver energy saving benefits into the future. We only use CEC accredited installers and we fully comply with the Victorian Govt. Solar Rebate Program. For further information call 1300 656 205 or go to our website at https://ongrid.energystuff.com.au/new-solar-system/

Victorian Registered Electrical Contractor Licence # 27787

Written by Andy Colthorpe / Energy Storage / 7 March 2019

SonnenBatterie system installed at a clinic in Puerto Rico. Image: Sonnen.

So, at the beginning of this year, the editorial team at Solar Media (which in addition to Energy-Storage.news also includes PV Tech, Solar Power Portal and Current) sat down to figure out what the big topics would be, and the general outlook for 2019.

While many in the industry have been enthusiastic about the potential of residential and other forms of behind-the-meter energy storage for some time, and the technology is ready to go, it’s been difficult to really demonstrate the total value that home storage systems could provide. This year we’re seeing evidence that that has changed.

It allows individual users to become more independent of big utilities and to maximise their use of solar energy, but it can also help the grid, by connecting together – or aggregating – dozens, hundreds or even thousands of units at once and providing a sort of combined and controllable single asset to the grid operator or utility.

There’ve been indications from all over the world that that potential is starting to be tapped, with so-called virtual power plant (VPP) projects springing up from Canada to Australia. This week analysis firm Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables reported that in the US, the market for behind-the-meter storage for the residential space has now gone well beyond the eco-conscious early adopters.

New utility programmes, a report from the company stated, now see energy storage as an enabler of effective time-of-use-rates and tariffs for electricity purchase, which can be a powerful tool in managing peak demand, or in providing grid services.

And perhaps the biggest indicator of the recognition of BTM storage so far in the first few months of this year has been the acquisition of Germany-headquartered battery storage and energy services provider Sonnen by oil major Shell. Royal Dutch Shell, to give the company its full name, has agreed to buy Sonnen through Shell New Energy, having already led an investment round in the storage company worth €60 million (US$70.23 million) in May last year. The overall acquisition cost of Sonnen is thought to be in the hundreds of millions.

Sonnen CEO Christoph Ostermann says that quite simply: “Residential storage is just shortly before the inflection point of becoming a mass [market] end product. More and more large corporations are recognising that.”

Corporate owners, independent customers?

In the past week, Siemens launched Junelight, its own brand storage systems for the German market, where Sonnen currently holds a leading market share, according to various sources. Ostermann says that since Sonnen launched its SonnenBatterie systems in 2010 until around the time of Tesla’s Powerwall launch in 2015, the majority of competition was nationally based. Today, he says, competitors are increasingly international and “big corporations” are the simple way he describes how he sees the future profile of competitor.

“You sometimes see large corporations, playing on an international level, come and go. We saw that with Mercedes. They joined the market and technically they were operating in all geographies: the US, Australia and Europe, but after a year they left the market. Same thing with Samsung SDI, they showed up with a full-integrated storage solution available internationally but also decided to leave the market again. The competition today is really much more global and the competitors who are really relevant for us in this game become much more and more large corporations.”

Joining a large corporation such as Shell hopefully won’t dilute the pro-renewables, energy independence and eco-friendly message that Sonnen has always carried with its brand, but Ostermann says that synergies with other Shell Group companies – with the oil major on a wave of smart energy acquisitions at the moment – will provider a deeper foothold for Sonnen in the market and add even more value for the parent company.

UK-based First Utility is now Shell-owned, as is UK aggregator Limejump and EV company New Motion. Ostermann says Sonnen “could develop solutions” with New Motion, or Sonnen storage units and services subscriptions could be bundled with First Utility offerings, even in Germany where First Utility is now also setting up. Limejump’s chief Erik Nygard told Solar Media’s UK editor Liam Stoker last week that similarly, the opportunity to connect and combine with Shell’s newly acquired smart energy business is “definitely an interesting prospect”.

“The equipment we provide is a solution for residential customers. A customer can supply themselves with self-generated solar power on the one hand, on the other hand, in the bundle with First Utility, First Utility could provide that customer with the remaining grid power that they still need. The customer could buy this as a package. It’s a very nice opportunity to offer more complete packages to the residential customer,” Ostermann says.

‘We will see a lot more geographies become residential energy storage markets…’

With solar becoming households’ favourite way of powering their daily lives, and batteries a way to enable that, many providers across the residential solar – and now storage – space are targeting becoming a full “one-stop-shop” solution provider for customers, as seen in the US with the likes of Tesla and Vivint, and internationally through SolarEdge’s acquisitions of Italian EV charge company SMRE and lithium battery maker Kokam. In Sonnen’s case, they also now have a tremendously powerful backer.

“I think there are synergies [with other Shell Group companies]. On the other hand, Shell is already present in more than 140 countries around the world and some of them are already interesting as markets for Sonnen as of today, some of them will become interesting in the future”.

Central Europe is still Sonnen’s biggest market, while the company has opened up an assembly plant and made a big push into Australia, in addition to a growing presence in the US – where it also has a factory in Atlanta, Georgia, and the UK. Home energy storage already makes economic sense in some places, could be at its inflection point in several markets soon; and there remain few parts of the world where it is unlikely to ever reach the mainstream, Ostermann says.

“Japan is a market we will look into closely in the near future. We’re also looking at other geographies in Asia, such as the Philippines, which we will look at more intensively in the future. There are a couple of countries in Africa, so, just to give some examples, there’s Nigeria or South Africa, where we have preliminary plans to enter these markets. Then you have new markets in Latin America, where we’re looking at the moment,” Ostermann says.

“At the end of the day, due to the fact that renewable energy generation is already price competitive all over the world, and storage prices come down more and more, I deeply believe that we will see a lot more geographies in the future that turn out to be residential storage markets.”

Value of distributed flexibility

Sonnen has been one of the early proponents of using home energy storage as an aggregated asset launching SonnenCommunity in late 2015, the same Year Zero that Powerwall was released. SonnenCommunity added a layer of tradability to energy, allowing community subscribers to ‘share’ their power with each other via the grid and the SonnenCommunity software and hardware platform. So does Sonnen’s Christoph Ostermann think the potential impact and value of digital energy services such as energy trading or the VPP model has been underestimated by the wider energy sector – perhaps until now?

“I think so, but on the other hand, it’s not so easy to do, either. We had a tough time getting pre-qualification for Germany and during the process you have to demonstrate to the grid operators that you are a reliable partner that can deliver what has been processed. This process in Germany is non-standardised and non-defined, so you have simply to get along with the TSOs by yourself, they are not waiting for you and you have to convince them that you can perform,” Ostermann says.

After making an investment in essentially providing grid services for free and proving it works however, it is now a ‘nice and profitable business” for Sonnen, the CEO claims.

“So, I think it’s underestimated on the one hand but on the other hand, especially in the beginning, for distributed storage, especially residential storage, because we talk about a very high number of units with a relatively small amount of power and of storage capacity, it’s really a tricky thing when you start doing that.”

The need for this flexibility provided by storage becomes more critical the higher the penetration of renewables and the fact is that the increasingly distributed nature of energy – adding EVs, PV and batteries at home level, for instance – is rapidly giving distribution grid operators more volatility in demand from residential customers.

“Even in Germany where we have a pretty modern grid infrastructure, this causes more and more problems and issues, and with large grid-scale storage, you can’t do a lot there. When it really comes to the depth of the distribution grids, you are well better off with a certain number of residential storage units. I really think that the trend is our friend here, and that we will see a very nice business for the future.”

Energy Stuff specialises in Residential Solar with emphasis on Repairs, Replacements and upgrades. We also provide new systems, battery storage, Off-Grid systems and smart monitoring systems so call us if we can be of support 1300 656 205 or go to our website at http://www.energystuff.com.au