Could you ever imagine that such a trending and prosperous industry like the solar one may face problems with market growth? Turns out it can. However, what’s good with this sector is that it continues innovating the industry line in line facing issues connected with rising solar modules and energy prices. Even though price increase can seem a minor issue for such a big industry, it deteriorates company vision and strategic plans that result in the disruption of the company’s functioning and future plans. Indeed, the meaning behind continuing innovations in the sector is to fight the disruption and bring change. Let’s analyze why the solar industry is on the verge of trouble and understand what innovative solutions can hinder it.
Reasons For Solar Industry Disruption
Even though most of the time disruption is considered an upgrade in the industry, this time, it is a downgrade. How is that even possible? Let’s say disruption happened in the wrong direction. Over the past decade, a drop in the amount of 90 percent occurred in the prices of solar modules. Indeed, recently a surge in solar module prices happened in the amount of 18 percent. The reason behind this is the increase in raw material prices. No wonder that people call it solar industry disruption. Let’s recall why solar energy prospered as a renewable resource? The main reason behind its success is low prices. As Jenny Chase, the lead solar analyst of BloombergNEF, states, “The disruption to solar hasn’t been this bad in more than a decade…Developers and governments are going to have to stop expecting solar to get much cheaper quickly.” He highlighted polysilicon as a material that had a considerably rapid price increase.
Such a massive rise in prices of solar panels may be disastrous both for customers and solar companies. Taking into account that high prices of photovoltaic panels affect demand for the product, customers may willingly decide to stop the construction of large-scale projects. Such a delay will definitely impact the income of PV panel companies. Plus, not each and every customer has all the agreements signed and ready for provision. There may be unsigned agreements in need of consideration and finalization. Indeed, the situation with disruption in the solar industry resulted in postponing these unfinished agreements as companies didn’t have the chance of supplying all the needed services to the customer. On the customers’ side, they didn’t have the opportunity of closing the deals because of the high rates demanded by the companies. Seems inevitable, but change is possible.
Change Is Possible
There are two reasons why change is possible. The first reason is that along with the increase in solar module prices, installation costs declined. The second reason is that each and every solar panel company started sharing information on how to make the most of PV panels.
Reduced Installation Cost
Although the disruption was a real issue for solar consumers, later, a possible shift solved it. Costs of solar panel installation started declining, which compensated for increased power prices. Such compensation made consumers willing to pay as, most of the time, installation is costly and problematic in terms of how the final product looks. However, with decreased installation costs, consumers eliminated their worries regarding how panels look and shifted their attention to solar energy consumption monitoring.
Consumer Behavior Matters
No matter the surge in energy prices or decline in installation costs, consumers can afford solar power and solar module installation and still save money. How is that even possible? The thing is that solar panel companies started sharing tips and tricks on how to monitor solar power consumption to reap the most out of solar energy consumption. One of the most important tips is to ensure that the solar panel for home has a battery. Most of the time, people are not home during the day; they work or study and do not have the opportunity to be home to enjoy solar energy to the max. For such occasions, as the sun’s energy gets generated mostly during the day, a home battery may come in handy. It has the capability of storing the unconsumed energy for later use upon demand. That means that even if you come home late, you still have access to the sun’s energy in an abundant amount with a home battery. Besides this traditional trick, you may invest in a solar power consumption monitoring device, which will basically help you minimize energy consumption throughout the day without making you feel like you reduce something in your daily routine. They don’t cost much, but they bring much.
Final Note
Every industry can be in danger of disruption, and the solar one is not an exception. The disruption in the solar industry connected with rising prices brought concerns for both consumers and companies. Indeed, thanks to the innovative nature of solar panel companies and the willingness of customers to contribute to their functioning for the best common outcome, everything got into place. The decline in installation costs and sharing of tips and tricks on how to make the most of PV panels from the consumer point of view aided the situation. The challenge which the solar industry handled displayed that change is possible.
Author of the publication: Veronika Abrahamyan
