Big solar pipeline could come to “grinding halt” under Queensland rule change
- molly510
- Apr 9, 2019
- 1 min read
Australia’s big solar industry is looks set to face yet another major development hurdle, with a new regulation in the works requiring the panel mounting, locating, fixing and removal on Queensland solar farms to be undertaken by licensed electricians only.
The new regulation, which is described on page 38 of the Queensland government’s new draft Code of Practice for the construction and operation of solar farms, also applies to all solar installations of 100kW and more and, essentially, prevents labourers from carrying out any work on basic PV panel installation.
It also argues that licensed electrical workers, having invested four years of their working life in securing a qualification as a skilled tradesperson, would be “unlikely to be motivated or well-suited to repetitive manual labour which does not utilise their skillset.”
According to the OIR, the proposed regulation was approved by Governor-in-Council on April 4, 2019, and is scheduled to be applied as part of the code of practice on May 13, 2019, “noting the code of practice is still subject to final approval by Minister Grace.”
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