Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has banned two solar installers from installing solar PV and battery systems under the federal government’s Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme.
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) – which, as its name suggests, regulates Australia’s carbon abatement schemes – regularly assesses all businesses and entities involved in providing services under the country’s various climate change laws.
The CER declared that two individuals previously accredited solar PV installers are now ineligible under the SRES for failing to meet a range of legal obligations.
The two installers are Shunqi Sun, who has been declared ineligible for 12 months, and Sandeep Laxman Shinde, who has been declared ineligible for three years.
Shunqi Sun, a sole trader, is now ineligible to install both solar PV systems and batteries for battery-connected solar PV systems. Any solar PV systems or batteries installed by Sun during this period will not be eligible to receive small-scale technology certificates (STCs).
The injunction follows an investigation into 10 solar PV systems Sun installed between September 2024 and July 2025.
According to the CER, Sun failed to hold the required Distributed Energy Resource endorsement on his electrical licence when conducting the installations and also failed to provide certificates of electrical safety to the relevant territory government authority for the installations.
Further, on four separate occasions, Sun did not comply with mandatory standards for electrical installations as required by his local jurisdiction, and on 10 occasions provided false or misleading installer written statements about these matters.
Similarly, Sandeep Laxman Shinde, who is also a sole trader but is linked with New South Wales based installer Ozeal Energy (also registered as Ozeal Electrical Services), has been declared ineligible to install solar PV systems and batteries for battery-connected solar PV systems.
Any solar PV systems or batteries installed by Shinde during this period will not be eligible to receive small-scale technology certificates (STCs).
The ban on Shinde follows an investigation into 24 solar PV systems installed between February 2023 and July 2025 which found that Shinde had not met onsite attendance requirements of the accreditation scheme on 7 occasions, failed to provide required electrical safety certificates to the relevant state government authority on 17 occasions, and gave false or misleading installer written statements about these matters on 24 occasions.
The CER said it has “communicated extensively with industry about the expected conduct of scheme participants” and reminding “accredited installers of their obligations under the SRES, including compliance with accreditation requirements and all applicable local, state and territory laws.”
It said installers must “meet onsite attendance requirements when installing solar PV systems and batteries” and that, to be eligible for STCs, “the installer must install or physically attend the site during job set up, mid-installation, and testing and commissioning and provide evidence of their attendance.”
“Photographs used to demonstrate onsite attendance must include accurate time, date and geolocation metadata for the installation site. We examine photographic evidence and metadata and do not accept images that have been altered or manipulated,” the CER said.
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