The Albanese Government’s $2.3 billion (USD 1.5 billion) solar battery rebate scheme is one of the most exciting developments Australia’s energy sector has seen in years.
It promises to make home batteries more affordable, accelerate our clean energy transition, and relieve strain on the grid during peak times. But if we don’t get the rollout right from day one, we risk undermining everything this scheme stands for and repeating the disastrous mistakes of the Pink Batts program.
I’ve been in the solar installation business for a long time and have seen thousands of installs up close, so I can say with confidence: the scheme has huge potential.
It’s good for households and small business owners, good for installers, and good for Australia’s decarbonisation goals. But with large-scale rollouts come large-scale risks, and the urgent need to talk about safety, compliance, and integrity before it’s too late.
The Pink Batts debacle of 2009 is still fresh in the minds of many Australians. A rush to stimulate the economy led to corner-cutting, unsafe work, and ultimately, tragic loss of life.
The parallels to today’s solar battery scheme are uncomfortable and concerns are already being raised that this new initiative could invite similar chaos if regulators don’t act fast and decisively.
I’m not trying to throw cold water on a promising scheme, quite the opposite, I believe that this scheme must succeed.
But when installers are incentivised to move fast and maximise rebates, it will inevitably invite some to look for ways to unfairly manipulate the system in their favour.
In the last 12 months alone, our team has inspected thousands of solar battery systems across the country, many of which are failing to meet existing standards even before the introduction of this incentive.
I have seen a considerable number of systems that were substandard, most commonly due to poor earthing or incorrect cabling, and a small but noteworthy percentage were even deemed unsafe.
Many systems also had inconsistent safety labelling, which makes it extremely difficult for technicians to safely operate, maintain and repair those batteries.
Reality is the current audit and inspection regimes are simply not up to the task. In some states, inspections are voluntary, while in others, they’re mandated but inadequate, with only a small fraction of systems ever checked and many flying under the radar.
We simply can’t afford to let that happen here. One bad battery fire or shoddy install in a suburban home will be all it takes to erode public trust in what could otherwise be a national success story.
The damage to industry reputation would be significant, impacting the many excellent, accredited installers who do things right.
This is why I’m calling on the government and regulators to urgently strengthen oversight. Let’s not wait for something to go wrong to start taking action.
So, what can we do differently this time?
Mandatory Independent Audits
Every installer participating in the rebate program should be subject to comprehensive third-party audits, accepted by both the customer and also the installer. Ensuring that at least a majority of installations per provider are audited can help catch trends and discourage bad actors.
Rebates Linked to Inspection Outcomes
Rebates should only be issued once an install successfully passes inspection. This creates a clear incentive for quality workmanship and deters any temptation to cut corners just to chase volume.
Grow the Inspector Workforce
In order to prevent a backlog of audits, we urgently need regulators to provide more opportunities for a larger number of technicians to apply to become accredited third-party inspectors.
This should also be supported by a nationally consistent audit framework, with clear scopes and standards, to achieve thorough and timely mandatory inspections.
This rebate scheme is a chance to supercharge Australia’s energy future, but without robust checks and smart regulation, we risk creating a new crisis where there should be opportunity.
Let’s make sure we have the right safeguards in place from the start, to build this scheme on a foundation of quality, accountability, and trust, protecting the industry’s reputation, and keeping the focus where it belongs: on delivering safe, reliable, clean energy for all Australians.
Author: Daniel Lazarus, Chief Executive Officer, Industrias
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.