Legal

A Victorian solar installer has been fined $500,000 for a string of workplace safety breaches, including a 2019 incident where a worker suffered serious injuries after falling through a skylight.

Australia’s module supply landscape could experience a supply shock as legislation looms to stamp out the use of forced labor. Chris O’Brien, Maxeon Solar Technologies VP for the APAC region says that the measures that have left modules stranded at the U.S. border could very well occur in Australia soon.

Energisation testing is set to resume from tomorrow for Neoen’s 300 MW / 450 MWh Victorian Big Battery, following the fire which caught global attention and destroyed two of its Megapacks on July 30.

Oil and gas giant Santos on Tuesday fronted up to Australia’s federal court, kicking off proceedings filed against it by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO). Pv magazine Australia spoke to the EDO and its client about the precedent they hope to set with the case.

Europe plans to introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in two years, requiring importers to pay a carbon price on steel, iron, aluminium, cement, electricity and fertiliser initially. Experts explain what the changes will mean for Australia’s export future, and just how little the legality debate matters.

Solar product detentions at U.S. ports of entry all stem from a June 24 “Withhold Release Order” issued by Customs and Border Protection.

An order issued in late June instructed customs agents to detain solar shipments containing silica-based products sourced from a Chinese firm and its subsidiaries. Three solar players may already have been impacted.

The Australian retail arm of French renewables giant Engie has been fined $2.5 million after two “rogue” sales contractors allegedly used phoney accents and fake names to switch hundreds of customers to new energy contracts without their consent.

Southeast Asia could well become the global engine room of renewable energy expansion. Population and economic growth is expected across the three decades in which the world has to decarbonise, but the brimming bounty of renewables deployment will force developers to navigate the region’s systems. As it turns out, that could be a treacherous task.

The Biden Administration’s decision to ban solar imports from four Xinjiang-based polysilicon manufacturers, Hoshine Silicon, Daqo, East Hope, and GCL New Energy Material, has already raised concerns. One analyst warns of a “significant negative impact” across the U.S. solar industry.