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Subscriber only A massive solar farm in southwest Queensland which has been the site of hundreds of controversial sackings has also been issued with dozens of Workplace Health and Safety Notices over a span of two months. Newscorp can reveal Gangarri Solar Project on the Western Downs was issued with 32 Workplace Health and Safety notices - accounting for almost one notice a day between January and April 2021. Indian-based company Sterling and Wilson is constructing the Shell Energy s project in Wandoan, but it s the second time the business has come under fire, earlier in 2021 they made headlines over an alleged multimillion-dollar contract dispute which left hundreds of casual workers fired with no notice.
12 March 2021
The main contracting group building oil giant Shell’s Gangarri solar farm in Queensland has appointed its own subsidiary to continue work on the delayed project after the previous contractor, Davis Contracting, filed for administration following a dispute over payments.
The Electrical Trades Union, and smaller sub-contractors, blamed the problem on a dispute over payments between the main EPC contractor, the Indian-based Sterling and Wilson, and the Perth-based Davis Contracting.
The industry has been hit by a series of contracting disputes, cost over-runs and delays, leading to the collapse of some big contractors, and the exit of others, and disaster for smaller contractors, as we reported here: Hung out to dry: The dark side of big solar
8 February 2021
Work has stopped on the 120MW Gangarri solar project near Wandoan in Queensland – the first major solar farm to be built in Australia by global oil giant Shell – after an alleged dispute over payments between contractors led to the standing down of up to 230 workers on Monday.
Dan McGaw, the state organiser for the Electrical Trades Union in Queensland, told RenewEconomy that up to 230 casual workers installing solar panels and doing electrical work on the site had received a text message first thing on Monday morning saying their services were no longer required and to pack their bags.
“The workers were given no notice. It’s so disappointing. They had to take everything, some had to leave tools at the site,” McGaw told RenewEconomy.