Like its counterparts in the U.S., Australia's only manufacturer of solar panels is suffering from weak sales due to competition from cheap Chinese solar panel imports.

SilexSolar announced on Wednesday that it suspended manufacturing operations at its Homebush Bay plant. Besides the lower-priced imports from China, the company pointed to the high Australian dollar and lack of support from state and federal governments as the reasons behind its decision to suspend operations.

The temporary closure follows a stop in August of cell production that SilexSolar uses on its panel. The firm instead sourced the cells from its Chinese partner, Hareon, which caused 30 jobs to be lost.

On Monday, another 45 jobs were lost after SilexSolar suspended manufacturing operations and placed the facility under care and maintenance. The firm paid $6.5 million for the Homebush facility which it purchased from BP in 2009.

Silex Systems Chief Executive Michael Goldsworthy said that SilexSolar still has about 20 employees who are in sales and marketing. He said the future of the 20 staff would be decided in the coming months.

Mr Goldsworthy said it was ironic that they have to stop operations just after the carbon tax measure was approved by the Labor government. The industry has received no support from the New South Wales (NSW) government which is still holding a nine-month review of feed-in tariffs.

"It's been disappointing to be honest. The state government told us to see the federal government and the federal government told us to talk to the state government," Mr Goldworthy told The Sydney Morning Herald.

However, the spokeswoman of NSW Energy Ministry said that Silex should have waited until the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal release its draft determination of a fair price for solar before the company announced its stop operations. The draft report is due for release by the end of November.

Silex installed the solar panels at the roof of the Senate wing and the gardener's compound of Parliament House in Canberra.

However, another Australian firm, Tindo Solar, is set to open a solar plant factory at Mawson Lakes in South Australia. The firm plans to start producing 250,000 panels yearly beginning late November.

Renewable energy group CBD Energy (ASX: CBD) pointed out earlier this week that solar prices are coming down due to the decline in price of silicon, the main ingredient used for making solar panels. However, CBD failed to identify cheap Chinese imports as also another reason behind the dipping prices of solar panels and the fall as well of Australian solar panel manufacturers.

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