Solar Victoria, which is part of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, collect, use and disclose personal information in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) (PDP Act), Public Records Act 1973 (Vic), Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and other applicable legislation.
Solar Victoria collects personal information through this website to deliver and administer its programs, initiatives and resources.
Your information may be used to assess applications, grant rebates, manage loans, compile statistical reports, survey participants about their experience, or promote other Solar Victoria programs relevant to you.
Information may be shared with DEECA staff, the Minister for Energy and Resources, other relevant government agencies, contracted service providers, or survey organisations under strict confidentiality agreements, or as otherwise required by law.
Solar Victoria uses OpenForms and Drupal to deliver website forms. Data entered through these forms is securely stored in a dedicated Microsoft Azure environment hosted in Australia.
You can request access to, or correction of, your personal information by contacting enquiries@team.solar.vic.gov.au or the FOI Team at DEECA:
Foi.unit@deeca.vic.gov.au
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
PO Box 500
East Melbourne 3002
We may update this privacy statement from time to time. Any changes to this privacy statement will be published on this website.
For information about our broader collection, use, and disclosure of personal information, please refer to DEECA’s privacy policy.
What information do we collect?
There are 3 main ways that we may collect personal information from you:
- Requests to provide information. In most circumstances, you will know if we are collecting personal information from you because you will be requested to provide it. For instance, if you submit a form to contact us through the website, we will ask you to provide your name and email address.
- Automatic collection through the website. Some personal information is automatically collected as a result of your visit to our website. This information is collected using software techniques such as web server log file analysis, cookies and web beacons.
- Automatic collection by third party software vendors. We use some third party software that collects information about your interaction with our website. When you visit our website, your web browser automatically sends certain information to these software providers.
This statement covers each of these instances of personal information collection in more detail below.
Requests to provide information
We may collect personal information that you choose to give us, or which may be required to access a particular service. This includes information collected via online forms, events and training registration, or when subscribing to receive newsletters.
The information you provide by completing an online form on solar.vic.gov.au is collected by the Drupal 9 content management system (CMS) and is stored on the Microsoft Azure infrastructure in Sydney, Australia. The Product and Editorial team within Digital, Design and Innovation have a process in place to delete this data from the CMS on a regular basis.
Automatic collection through the website
Use of cookies
We use first-party cookies and JavaScript code to collect information about visitors to this website. We use these to track how our visitors interact with this website, including where they came from, what they did on the site and whether they completed any transactions on the site.
If you don't want to have cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your web browser. You will need to customise each web browser you use to turn off cookie tracking.
If you opt out of using cookies, you will still have access to all the information and resources provided by this website, though some features may not work as expected.
Automatic collection by third party software vendors
This website uses several online tools to measure website use, which are provided by third party software vendors. We use these tools to help us make our site better.
We use software by third parties, including:
- Google Analytics
- Google Tag Manage
- Google Campaign Manager 360
- Google Search Console
- Funnelback
- HotJar
- Meta pixel
- New Relic
For further information on how these third-party software vendors handle your personal information, please review their privacy policies. Personal information may be provided to third parties when accessing this website. Information that may be shared to third parties includes:
- network location and IP address
- the date and time of your visit to our website
- the types of web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari) and operating system (e.g. Windows 10, Mac OS X etc.) you are using
- Flash version, JavaScript support, screen resolution and screen colour processing ability
- referring site details (such as the URL that you came through to arrive at our website)
- page visited and the time spent on each page
- documents downloaded and search terms used
- the forms accessed on our website
- personal identifiable information
- unique device identifier
- cookies and data about which page you visited
- device information, hardware model, operating system information, app version, app usage, debugging information, browser information
- geo location information (if enabled by user)
- may assign a unique user identifier
- diagnose issues that occur in user’s browser
We require third-party service providers to handle personal information in accordance with applicable laws and our contractual obligations.
Third party software vendors may alter how they collect and handle personal information at any time.
Use and disclosure
Use of web analytics data
We use web analytics data for statistical purposes, such as to analyse, measure, and report on data about our website traffic and visits. This information helps us understand general user trends at an aggregate level, and improve our website, content, and user experience.
We may also use this information for security audits to protect against threats from hackers or other security purposes.
We do not use this information to identify you or match it with any other personal information that we may collect from you, unless required to do so as part of an internal investigation or for a law enforcement-related purpose, in accordance with the PDP Act.
Your site visit data is collected under the authority of Information Privacy Principle 1.1 of the PDP Act for the purposes stated above.
Disclosure of web analytics data
Apart from the third-party tools described in this Privacy Statement, we do not disclose your site visit data to any other third parties without your consent, unless we are required or authorised to do so by law. In the event of an investigation into suspected unlawful or improper activity, a law enforcement or government agency may use its legal authority to inspect our web server’s records (e.g. in relation to hacking or abusive messages).
Can I opt out of the collection of web analytics data?
You cannot opt out of the automatic collection of information that is used for analytical purposes; however you may choose to disable cookies or delete any individual cookie. If you choose to disable cookies, the website may not function fully and your ability to browse, read, and download information contained on our website may be impaired. However, you may still access our services by contacting our office via other methods such as telephone, email, or mail.
You can enable a “Do Not Track” setting on your browser to help protect your privacy. When Do Not Track is tuned on, your browser will send a Do Not Track request to the sites you visit, and to the third parties whose content is hosted on those sites. However, many websites will still collect and use your browsing data regardless of the Do Not Track Request. This depends on individual sites’ privacy practices. Sending a Do Not Track request does not guarantee privacy protection.
Instructions on how to enable the Do Not Track setting:
Social media
We use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube to communicate with the public about our work. We may collect any personal information you provide us via these social media channels for the purposes of engaging and consulting with the public. Any personal information we collect via these channels will be handled in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 and in line with this privacy statement.
Specific social media channels may also collect your personal information for their own purposes. When you agree to each channel’s terms of service and privacy policy, you agree to your information being transferred outside Victoria. To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, please do not post any personal information (including phone numbers and email addresses) in your comment, tweet, or reply. Additionally, please do not share personal information about others via social media.
We use data sent by a Facebook pixel to enable interest-based advertising to provide you with customised content when you visit certain websites. Facebook pixel does not collect or send names, email addresses or other contact information to Facebook.
We may use Lead Ad data which refers to information that a Meta (Facebook and Instagram) user elects to send to us through a Lead Ad, such as you Meta username and email address. Facebook may use lead ad data as permitted by its Data Policy including to pre-fill Instant Forms individuals may complete. Lead ad data will be used in accordance with the Meta Platform Policy, our privacy policy, consents and terms and conditions agreed to by the Meta user.
We use Sprout Social to manage Solar Victoria’s social media accounts. Information collected by these channels is also shared with Sprout Social.
We have social media sharing links on this website. These are located on the right-hand side of a webpage under the heading 'Share this'. By clicking these links, you are given the option to share the webpage as a post on your social media account (Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn).
Links to external websites
This privacy statement does not apply to any external websites that are linked on the vic.gov.au website.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. When you visit other websites, we recommend you read the privacy statements or policies of these websites before providing personal information.
Security of your personal information
Under the PDP Act, we have a responsibility to protect your personal information. We take reasonable steps to make sure that your personal information is protected from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Access to systems, applications, and the information that we collect is limited to authorised staff members only.
Further, any personal information that we collect and use for identifying user trends (for example, IP address) is aggregated and anonymised when generating reports.
Cross-border disclosures
Some personal information may be stored or processed outside Victoria. Where this occurs, we ensure that the information is protected to a standard equivalent to that required under Victorian law.
Access and correction
You may request access to, or correction of, documents that contain your personal information which are in our possession. For information on how to make a request for access or correction, please contact us via the details above.
In some cases, requests for access or correction will be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic).
If you have a privacy complaint, please contact us (details above). You may also contact the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC).
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