This week has shown that the solar industry will continue to have a battle with ‘big energy’ companies over the energy mix in Australia. The importance of a quality solar company and installation has also been thrown into the spotlight as reports of 19% of installations tested have come out as ‘substandard.’ Big solar inverter manufacturers around the world are taking measures to secure and increase their market share around the world.

Muriel Watts from the Australian PV Association has spoken out saying that we can expect a battle with big energy companies. The solar boom has taken off and left them in the dust and now they will demonise solar power in any way they can in order to protect their revenues and out-dated business models. Already we have seen them talk of solar power systems increase prices for others without solar and avoiding costs etc as well as proposing special fixed fee tariffs on solar households. Muriel has listed a few ways in which she expects energy companies to fight solar growth. Click here to read the full article.

The Clean Energy Regulator has inspected 7000 rooftop solar power systems finding 19% of them to be substandard. 4% were shut down immediately as they were deemed unsafe. However, Anfrew Livingston from the Regulator’s Office has said that the comeback of installers to fix issues has been quite good on the whole. There are only about five cases that may take legal action against the installer. The Regulator can fine the agents who contract the installer but cannot legally make installers return to substandard jobs. Click here to read the full article.

Well-known solar inverter company, Power-One, has struck a deal with Daqo New Energy Corporation, a quality Chinese solar panel manufacturer. Daqo will supply Power-One with components for their inverters and peripherals and in turn will help them increase sales and service within China. Many are expecting big market growth in China in the near future and Power-One is positioned to take advantage of this. Daqo have secured the production of quality products for the inverter manufacturer and this will help strengthen their reputation world-wide. Click here to read the full article.

SMA Solar Technology has announced that they will open a manufacturing plant in South Africa before 2014. The plant is expected to have a 500Mw capacity and operate on SMA’s flexible manufacturing approach. This plant will be producing the Sunny Central PV Inverters which cater for multi-megawatt power plants as SMA has already secured the sale of units to the South African Department on Energy who is expected to set up about 2GW’s of solar power plants in the near future. The company also hopes that setting up locally will help them cater for their specific requirements. Click here to read the full article.

Just a reminder again for those who have their 44c network agreements from Energex that TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Solar systems must be installed and completed before June 30 in order to retain their 44c feed-in tariff. Secure your install date now and request a quote.