Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt is becoming suspicious about the popularity of rooftop solar.

Hunt says the percentage of substandard rooftop solar installations around the nation is too high, and must be investigated.

In a letter to solar industry leaders, the minister said statistics from the Clean Energy Regulator showed that 15 per cent of Australia’s 1.3 million rooftop solar systems were of substandard quality.

“Whether the true number is higher or lower,” Hunt wrote, “I believe the incidence of non-compliant installations is too high.”

“For that reason I have asked State and Territory Governments to work with the Commonwealth to address the persistent issues that have been identified as underlying causes of unsafe and substandard solar PV installations.”

Renewable energy media outlets say these “persistent issues” consist of just a few claims in recent mainstream media stories.

But the Clean Energy Regulator – an agency within Hunt’s own department – says the numbers and issues are not as bad as Mr Hunt alleges.

“The vast majority of those unsafe systems related to water ingress into DC isolators, which are essentially switches,” the Regulator’s Mark Williamson told the Senate Environment and Communications Committee last week.

“We don’t see any firm or clear allegations on safety with respect to panels… in fact, of those 13,000 inspections, we haven’t had one fail as unsafe for reasons of the actual panel itself being unsafe.”

The Clean Energy Council has rejected Hunt’s claims too.

“The solar industry rejects any notion of lax safety standards in the sector, especially those based on isolated accounts that ignore the industry’s strong track record,” CEC CEO Kane Thornton said in a response to Mr Hunt’s letter.

“The current regime of product standards, accreditation, audits and inspections ensure rigorous standards when it comes to safety.

“This robust compliance scheme is overseen by a number of bodies including the Federal Government Clean Energy Regulator, state government electrical bodies, Standards Australia and the Clean Energy Council.

“Like any other electrical product, isolated quality issues will arise from time to time. The industry continues to work with key government, regulatory and industry stakeholders to address these, and ensure the regulation regime continues to be refined and keeps pace with the latest developments in the sector.”

The head of the Australian Solar Council, John Grimes, says Mr Hunt’s persistant correspondence is an attempt to “kill the industry”.

“This is nothing but a political scare campaign and I think the minister should resign,” Grimes told Fairfax Media on Friday.

“How can you preside over an industry in your portfolio that you are trying to kill? This is beyond the pale. The government is out of control,” he said.