The photo voltaic business is bracing for a turbulent 12 months, and SolarReviews’ newly launched 2025 Photo voltaic Trade Survey lays out precisely why. The survey, now in its third 12 months, gathered insights from photo voltaic firms throughout the business between December 2, 2024, and January 3, 2025, protecting every little thing from the Inflation Discount Act to workforce growth and the state of the availability chain.
Ben Zientara, business and coverage analyst at SolarReviews, summed up the findings: “With pandemic-related provide chain points largely within the rearview mirror, the business is now overwhelmingly involved about political uncertainty and the potential for brand spanking new tariffs and modifications to photo voltaic incentives.”
The largest takeaway – the photo voltaic business is on edge about what’s coming in 2025. Greater than half (56%) of firms flagged the opportunity of new tariffs as a serious concern, whereas 50% are fearful about modifications to photo voltaic incentives. Legislative and political uncertainty isn’t serving to both, with 46% of respondents citing it as considered one of their largest fears. Contemplating that Trump’s declaration of a nationwide vitality emergency excluded photo voltaic from its definition of vitality sources, that’s unsurprising.
The result of the 2024 US elections has additionally influenced enterprise confidence. A 3rd (34%) of respondents mentioned their outlook for 2025 turned extra unfavourable because of election outcomes, whereas almost half (48%) reported no change. Solely 18% mentioned they felt extra optimistic about their enterprise prospects after the elections.
Regardless of these worries, most photo voltaic firms stay resilient. Simply 7% of respondents mentioned they had been involved about staying in enterprise over the following six months, whereas 38% count on to see their enterprise develop this 12 months.
One shiny spot is the availability chain. Over the previous two years, provide chain disruptions have steadily improved, with 43% of companies reporting that circumstances had been higher in 2024 in comparison with 2023. That’s a slight dip from the earlier 12 months when 69% of firms noticed an enchancment, however nonetheless a optimistic signal. Solely 11% mentioned provide chain points worsened year-over-year.
Residential photo voltaic installers proceed to evolve, increasing their providers past photo voltaic panels. The overwhelming majority (92%) of installers now supply vitality storage set up, up from 74% final 12 months. Equally, 86% of firms are putting in EV chargers, up from 64% within the earlier 12 months.
Installers named Qcells, REC, and Silfab as their go-to photo voltaic module manufacturers, whereas Enphase, Tesla, and SolarEdge dominated the vitality space for storing.
Nonetheless, one of many largest challenges in 2024 was the wave of photo voltaic firm closures. A staggering 81% of installers reported that not less than one giant competitor of their service space shut down. Greater than 57% mentioned these closures led to unfavourable outcomes, together with a rise in service calls from prospects left within the lurch by their former photo voltaic suppliers. To adapt, almost 1 / 4 of residential installers now supply third-party guarantee protection as a approach to enhance buyer confidence and safe extra gross sales.
Finally, US photo voltaic continues to be anticipated to proceed its development trajectory and preserve its prime management amongst vitality sources.
Learn extra: Renewables generated 24.2% of US electrical energy in 2024 – EIA knowledge
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