Installer Selfies And Australia’s Solar Rebate

When you see your solar installer taking selfies on the day of system installation, these aren’t just happy snaps or portfolio pics. Installer selfie photos are an important part of Australia’s solar rebate scheme.

Australia’s solar panel rebate is more accurately in practice a subsidy providing an up-front discount on the purchase of a system. It’s based on Small-scale Technologies Certificates (STCs); the number of which accompanying an eligible system depending on installation date, location and solar panel capacity¹. The value of the certificates fluctuates with market conditions.

STCs cannot be created until after a system is installed, but solar businesses provide their value (after whatever admin fees) to the system purchaser, taking a punt on what STC value will be at that time. Advertised prices of solar systems will have already factored in this value. The system purchaser assigns the rights to the STCs to the solar business on the day of installation. The installer/business or its agent applies for the certificates and cashes them in.

STC creation is a very serious business, with a bunch of rules in place to minimise instances of unscrupulous parties gaming the system. Overseeing all this is Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER), which is charged with the task of ensuring the ongoing integrity of Australia’s Small Scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES).

The Three Crucial Installer Selfies

In its latest compliance update, the CER has reminded parties applying for STCs that among the rules is providing suitable evidence in the form of selfie photographs of the Clean Energy Council (CEC) accredited installer being on-site at specific stages of the installation.

The following photos showing the stages in the background of the image are required at a minimum:

• Installation set-up taken in front of the letterbox with no solar panels on the roof.
• Mid-way through the installation taken when the mounting system is installed.
• Final commissioning image of the inverter or the completed solar panel array.

It sounds like a bit of a PITA for the installer, but it is crucial to the STC application succeeding.

“CER has been ramping up the volume of assessments conducted and seeing a high overall level of compliance in this area,” states the Regulator. ” We will continue to fail certificates where evidence does not demonstrate this requirement, and where necessary enforcement action may be undertaken if false evidence is provided.”

And the CER isn’t kidding. For example, the Regulator commenced civil penalty proceedings in December in the Federal Court of Australia against a company and two individuals in relation to information related to the identity of the persons who carried out series of installations.

“The CER will continue to refer briefs of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) concerning the alleged giving of false or misleading information in relation to solar PV installations. We will also continue to commence civil penalty proceedings with respect to contraventions of legislation administered by the CER.”