“I don’t see any reason why solar panels can be made cheaper in China than here,” Tindo Solar managing director Adrian Ferraretto tells Recharge. He is investing A$7m ($7.5m) in the Adelaide-based company. “It’s not a labour-intensive process, it’s all machines and very few people.”

Ferraretto is a former managing director of the failed Solar­Shop, leaving in 2010 before its demise.