The Clean Energy Regulator has published updated results from its solar battery inspection program, covering installations completed since 1 July 2025. The findings were circulated to accredited installers in Solar Accreditation Australia's July 2026 newsletter alongside direct guidance from the regulator.
Current-guidance boundary: This bulletin records inspection results finalised to 8 June 2026. It does not replace current standards, accreditation requirements, manufacturer instructions, regulator guidance or controlled work procedures for a specific installation.
The headline number is not flattering to the industry, and it is worth reading carefully before it is repeated out of context.
The numbers
As at 8 June 2026 the regulator had conducted 2,642 solar battery inspections nationally, 310 of them in Western Australia.
The substandard rating is the one that gets quoted as "more than 60 per cent of battery installs are failing." That framing overstates it. Substandard is a compliance classification, not a safety one, and the unsafe rate is under one per cent. The distinction matters when a customer raises the figure.
Assessed at the level of individual checklist items rather than whole installations, the picture is different again.
The regulator identified no solar battery product faults in the program. Installation practice and workmanship account for the non-compliance.
Labelling is the largest single source of findings
Labelling is the most common category overall: missing or incorrect warning labels at the switchboard, backed-up circuits not labelled correctly, and missing emergency services identification labels. This is the same evidence trail covered in New Photographic Evidence Rules for Solar Batteries, and it continues to be the largest single source of findings.
Residual current device protection is the most persistent individual checklist failure. The regulator singled out item "RCD Protection available – SB & Labelling 13", which concerns whether alternative supply circuits are provided with appropriate RCD protection. Its guidance to installers is direct: confirm the RCD fitted is appropriate to the size and function of the battery system, and test it to confirm it operates. A missing or misconfigured RCD leaves both the installer and the householder exposed to shock and fire risk.
Wiring and cable management remains among the most common reasons an installation is found substandard or unsafe. Findings under this heading relate to inadequate mechanical protection of cabling, insufficient earthing and bonding arrangements, insufficient wiring support, and unsuitable weather, ingress, insulation and conductor protection. In the installations rated unsafe, the regulator found loose connections in pre-assembled battery systems with associated wiring showing signs of heat, inadequate overcurrent protection for inverter circuits, and neutral continuity not maintained across all circuits operating on an alternative supply.
The regulator's standard for this category is that cables must be selected, installed, supported and protected for the environment they sit in, and that the wiring remains safe for the expected service life of the system rather than only at the moment of commissioning.
The commissioning-order trap
Separately, the regulator has flagged a growing cause of failed STC applications: batteries commissioned before the solar PV system they are attached to.
Battery eligibility under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme depends on the battery being installed with a new or existing solar PV system, a requirement covered in Batteries Installed With Existing Solar. Where the two are being installed together, the PV system must be commissioned on or before the date the battery is commissioned.
The practical risk is weather. Where poor conditions delay the roof work, the temptation is to commission the battery and return for the PV. The regulator's advice is explicit: the battery should not be commissioned on its own, because doing so puts the certificate claim at risk regardless of how sound the finished installation is.
Three things to carry onto site
PSW Energy and Perth Solar Warehouse submit STC claims as an Approved Seller, so findings in these categories carry both a rectification cost and a claim risk. Three points follow.
Solar Accreditation Australia's AS/NZS 4777.1:2024 Essential Learning Module remains available to accredited installers and covers the standards underlying several of these checklist items.
Context
The inspection program has scaled alongside the scheme. Solar Accreditation Australia reports that the first year of battery eligibility under the SRES, to July 2026, produced more than 450,000 battery installations nationally and added 12.85 GWh of storage capacity.
Sources: Clean Energy Regulator, solar battery inspection results report (opens in a new tab); Clean Energy Regulator update to accredited installers, published in Solar Accreditation Australia's July 2026 newsletter; Clean Energy Regulator, solar batteries scheme eligibility (opens in a new tab).
Current-status note
This bulletin was reviewed on 9 August 2026 and records inspection results reported to 8 June 2026. Installers should verify the current inspection checklist and eligibility rules through the Clean Energy Regulator (opens in a new tab) and Solar Accreditation Australia before work begins. No direct URL or archived copy of the July 2026 Solar Accreditation Australia newsletter was retained with this article. Related controlled context is available through the WA solar and battery compliance centre and the editorial standards.
