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If your job ad asks for a "CEC accredited installer", it is out of date. So is most of the internet.
Solar installer and designer accreditation no longer sits with the Clean Energy Council. It moved to Solar Accreditation Australia (SAA), appointed by the Clean Energy Regulator and announced on 29 February 2024, with a three-month transition window for existing accredited installers to move across.
That was more than two years ago and the old terminology is still everywhere - in job ads, on CVs, on contractor websites, and in a great deal of published advice that nobody has updated.
A CV saying "CEC accredited" is not automatically a red flag. Plenty of good installers still describe themselves that way out of habit, and their accreditation transferred fine. But it tells you the person has not looked at their own credential recently, and it means you cannot take the claim at face value.
What you actually verify is SAA accreditation. If someone did not transfer during the window, they are not accredited now, and the consequence is not academic.
The commercial consequence. Accreditation is what makes an installation eligible for small-scale technology certificates. An unaccredited install is not just a compliance problem - it can strip the STC value out of the job. That is a real number on a real invoice.
SAA issues distinct accreditations, and they are not interchangeable:
Batteries are separate. This is the one that catches employers out as battery attachment rates climb. A solar installer with Design & Install accreditation is not automatically accredited for battery systems. GCBS is its own accreditation.
Picture a two-person crew booked for a solar-plus-battery install. Both hold Design & Install. Neither holds GCBS. The solar goes on fine and the battery portion is a problem nobody identified at quoting.
This is the structural point, and it is the same shape as every other trade we recruit for.
SAA accreditation is not an electrical licence. For Install accreditation, SAA requires applicants to supply a current electrical licence number and expiry, along with Working Safely at Heights certification and public liability insurance.
So a solar installer doing the electrical connection work is holding at least two things: a state electrical licence, and SAA accreditation. Your business separately needs its own contractor registration - an electrical contractor licence in Queensland, or Registered Electrical Contractor status in Victoria.
Accreditation, worker licence, business registration. Three different things held by different parties. Miss any one and the job is exposed.
Write "SAA accredited", not "CEC accredited", and name the accreditation type. If the role includes battery work, say GCBS explicitly.
You will look like you know what you are talking about, which in a trade where most employers are still using two-year-old terminology is worth something on its own.
HJ Recruitment places permanent solar, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and refrigeration and fire tradespeople with Australian employers. If you are not sure which accreditation your solar role needs, ask us.
Sources- Clean Energy Council - New solar installer and designer accreditation provider appointed- Solar Accreditation Australia- Clean Energy Regulator - Solar battery installers and designers
