Angus Taylor opens Tindo’s new assembly line in rare visit to solar facility

Australia’s only commercial-scale solar panel manufacturer, Tindo Solar, has officially opened new and expanded facilities in Adelaide.

Such was the significance of the milestone, or maybe it was the election campaign, federal energy minister Angus Taylor made a rare appearance at a facility related to clean energy technologies, visiting the Tindo factory to officially open its new production line.

The $5 million production line will allow Tindo to assemble panels with M10 solar cells – which it says have become a de facto industry standard.

The M10 cells allow for the use of larger and more efficient solar cells, allowing Tindo to compete with overseas manufacturers already offering the larger format cells.

“We believe that Australia’s aggressive uptake of renewable energy can be matched with Australian technology, innovation and manufacturing,” Tindo Solar CEO Shayne Jaenisch said.

“We are producing the first utility-scale panel ever produced in Australia, the 550 watt Karra. We are also producing the 405 watt Karra for the residential and commercial rooftop market.

“Both panels contain the M10 solar cell and have been assessed by TUV Korea as being among the most efficient in the world.”

“We design, build and test our panels to perform under Australia’s harsh conditions.

We warranty our solar panels for 25 years and our panels are consistently the best performers at the Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre, which tests panels in real conditions just outside Alice Springs.

Taylor attended the opening alongside Liberal senator David Fawcett, marking one of the few times Taylor has visited a renewable energy facility.

The new factory received a $1 million grant from the Morrison government’s Modern Manufacturing Fund.

“They are doing an absolutely extraordinary job here at Tindo Solar and it was fantastic just a moment ago to launch the upgrade of the facility,” Taylor said.

“Australia is number one – the highest rate of household solar in the world. We’re getting up to one in three houses with household solar. That’s why Tindo Solar is such an important business in this country and why we see great opportunities partnering with them here today.”

Tindo Solar’s new factory has the capacity to produce up to 150MW of solar panel capacity each year and is more than three times the size of its previous factory.

Taylor and other Coalition ministers have notably made only rare appearances at Australian clean energy projects. As RenewEconomy noted last year, prime minister Scott Morrison attended a solar farm on the invitation of mining billionaire Andrew Forrest.

In late April, as part of campaign efforts, Taylor also inspected a solar energy project in Whyalla – albeit at a Santos gas processing facility.

Perhaps, given the election is likely to deliver an assessment of the Morrison government’s climate policies, Taylor – whose first remarks as minister were that there was “too much wind and solar” – has felt the need to demonstrate a newfound embrace of clean energy.