Industrias data shows what proactive maintenance delivers, and how many systems are missing it.
Industrias, Australia’s leading commercial solar and battery maintenance specialist, has released inspection data showing that almost one in four solar systems inspected contains at least one fault serious enough to affect performance or safety.
The finding comes as millions of distributed energy assets across homes, businesses and industrial sites move into their second decade of operation, with little or no meaningful maintenance since installation.
The data also shows what proactive maintenance can achieve. Following initial inspection and rectification, fault incidence fell by approximately 50% at the second inspection, a result Industrias attributes to the compounding value of identifying and addressing issues early.
“These faults don’t simply disappear,” said Daniel Lazarus, co-founder and CEO at Industrias. “Solar and battery systems are exposed to weather, thermal cycling, component degradation and general wear. New issues emerge over time and that is precisely why ongoing inspection and maintenance remains critical, but they do get worse over time if left unchecked.”
Australia now has more than four million rooftop solar systems installed, with commercial and industrial assets adding significantly to that base. Many were built during the first major wave of solar investment, and assumptions about their continued performance are increasingly being tested by age and use, with a vast majority of the issues identified involving inverters, cabling and isolators.
“Many asset owners assume their systems are operating as intended because they continue generating electricity,” said Daniel. “We regularly find faults that reduce performance, create reliability risks or present safety concerns, often with no visible sign to the owner.”
These findings reflect a broader pattern that Industrias has documented across its national inspection portfolio. Systems that had received fragmented maintenance, or none at all since installation, showed preventable fault rates consistent with the overall finding.
The results reinforce Industrias’ central argument: that maintenance must be treated as a standard, ongoing part of solar asset ownership, not an afterthought.
Daniel explains his ‘maintenance-first’ stance, “Installing solar is only the beginning. If solar is energy security, maintenance is what protects that security. Annual inspections should be as standard as any other routine asset check.”
A wide range of stakeholders, from residential owners to commercial portfolio managers, insurers and councils overseeing community solar infrastructure, are encouraged to consider these findings when planning their system maintenance.
As Australia’s energy transition accelerates, Industrias argues that the integrity of existing assets is as important as the pace of new installations.
About Industrias Services Group
Industrias is an Australian tech-led services and management company specialising in maintenance-centric design for renewable energy infrastructure. The company works at the intersection of industrial design, electrical engineering, and facility management to address a problem the industry has largely chosen to ignore: what happens to solar assets after installation day. Backed by a network of more than 150 partners and drawing on a proprietary dataset spanning more than 4,000 installations, Industrias brings a data-driven rigour to solar performance that is rare outside of government research.
Industrias works with asset owners, developers, investors, and policymakers to close that gap, ensuring that Australia’s renewable infrastructure delivers on its promise across its full operational life.
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