Zimbabwe’s Sunday Times reports that the Zimbabwean energy regulatory authority (ZERA) has issued a warning that poor quality, unreliable, under-performing solar PV panels are being sold to unsuspecting customers at reduced prices.

Panels which are marked as 300 W units rarely produce more than 200 W, ZERA's CEO, Edington Mazambani says. They are unreliable and undermine the public's confidence in the technology. This warning to consumers follows a study of the solar PV panels certain retailers were selling.

“To protect consumers, we are working on regulations that will compel retailers to sell original renewable energy products”, Mazambani says.

ZERA, Mazambani says, will soon start monitoring all solar equipment being imported into Zimbabwe, in a bid to eliminate the sale of substandard and counterfeit equipment to the country’s consumers.

The advent of extended load shedding hours in Zimbabwe has driven market demand for solar PV panels and equipment.