US residential solar market set for ‘faster than expected’ rebound

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Image: Solarcity.

The US residential solar market could be rebounding from any pandemic-related slide far quicker than anticipated.

Panelists participating in a webinar organised by investment bank Roth Capital said that a V-shaped recovery was now on the cards. Others on the call suggested that current sales had recovered to February levels.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

While such performance would still be down some 40% lower than expectations, it would constitute a major boon for US installers that have warned for a significant slump in sales throughout Q2 2020.

Financial disclosures from both SunPower and Vivint Solar earlier this month suggested that installations had yet to feel the brunt of the pandemic in the first three months of the year, forecasting that the harshest impacts are still to come. It was a similar story for Sunrun, however Sunnova broke the mould by reporting a jump in installations in Q1, helping it to maintain its guidance for the full year.

Manufacturers have also feared the worst. Microinverter supplier Enphase Energy, which derives around 90% of its revenue from the US market, warned that revenues in Q2 would slide, pointing towards industry reports suggesting installs had fallen to somewhere between 30 and 50%.

A full recovery is, however, still expected to be some way off. Even with a V-shaped recovery, residential installs in the US are still expected to be relatively flat throughout this year, building towards strong growth in 2021.

The analysis is more buoyant news for an industry that has been widely expected to struggle in the coming months. Earlier this week the International Energy Agency revised its forecasts for solar deployment this year downward, stressing that the distributed solar segment looked to be particularly hard hit.

Participants on Roth’s webinar, held yesterday, also noted that while inverter prices in the country had remained steady, more than 40% of those present had recorded a decline in panel prices on the market.

21 May 2024
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 21-22 May 2024, will be our third PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2025 and beyond.
8 October 2024
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 8-9 October 2024 is our second PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The event in 2023 was a sell out success and 2024 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
26 November 2024
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2025. PV ModuleTech Europe 2024 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.

Read Next

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
March 19, 2024
Texas, USA
Solar Media Events
March 26, 2024
Lisbon, Portugal
Solar Media Events
April 10, 2024
Dallas, Texas USA