Rooftop Solar no longer growing, temp or perm?
 

Bloomberg:
Sunrun Takes $1.2 Billion Charge in Latest Blow to Solar

The promise of the renewable energy industry, underscored by Sunrun Inc.’s acquisition of Vivint Solar three years ago, had investors rushing to jump in. Now, solar stocks are facing a major sell-off, spurring Sunrun to take a $1.2 billion charge to write down the value of its purchase.

The move at the biggest US rooftop solar company comes on the heels of a string of bad news across the sector. SunPower Corp. tumbled 5.6% Wednesday after cutting its full-year guidance due to weaker demand for its rooftop solar systems. SolarEdge Technologies Inc., which makes inverters that allow homes to use solar power, saw its stock plunge more than 20% in late trading Wednesday.

The rise in interest rates is one reason for the downturn. The future will depend on the level of taxpayer's subsidies.

rooftop solar
 

Tax incentives run this industry. However, California mandated all new homes must have solar. I know it was talked about in Florida. If states force it on all new homes that will be a boon to the solar industry. However, with interest rates so high new builds will slow to a certain degree.

I think people are also starting to realize that the economics do not support solar in many states, I worked in the electric utility industry and had planned on putting solar on our house until I looked at the economics. I would be more inclined to buy into a group or neighborhood GROUND BASED solar field.

pp&l?

Break even point probably longer than I will be around.

My son had solar put on his roof in Illinois. He’s had 10 dollar electric bill early spring and all summer. But they both work and gone all days. So not much electricity used during day.

Two things often ignored when working out the break-even point for solar:

1) having solar installed does generally increase the value of your home. Of course there will be some who won't buy your home because of it, but there will be others who are attracted by it; and

2) the cost of electricity rises every year, whereas the typical break-even calculation uses today's price.

Personally, I wouldn't install solar until the cost of storage comes down enough to make going off-grid feasible.

As others have mentioned, the removal of grants and higher interest rates have made going solar more expensive recently, as have restrictions on importing the panels from China.

Tax incentives and low interest rates fuel growth. Most seniors won’t live long enough to see a return on their investment. Good luck with warranty claims, these companies are headed to bankruptcy. Europe growth has imploded

All good scams must come to an end someday

Imagine the cost of a new roof on a solar home. Will insurance companies even insure homes with solar?

Yes.

Alternative/renewable energy alternatives, simply don't work financially. EV cars are a disaster, no one wants one. Wind farms have just about given up the ghost. Rooftop solar is a non-started in most of the country. It it wasn't for government mandates and/or incentives, they'd be no one even willing to try these supposed alternatives.

Perhaps we should consider tapping the fossil fuels buried under the USA, that government has prevented from being harvested? I know it's a temporary solution, we probably only have sufficient fossil fuels to support the current rate of usage, for a 100 or so years.

Incorrect. Wind was under 1% of total energy generation in 2005, not it's over 10% of total energy in the US. That's a mind blowing 400 billion kWh now.

Wind is already suffering a downturn too. The company that was building wind farms off the coast of New Jersey just pulled out. The brits are limiting how much energy providers can charge for wind energy, and wind energy providers are failing because of it. It's only a matter of time that the wind energy collapses too. The ONLY way either wind or solar survives is with huge government subsidies. If they were economically feasible, they wouldn't need our tax dollars to prop them up.