The solar industry is in crisis, we’ve been hearing this headline for years. And yet the organizers of the Intersolar trade fair can hardly stop cheering. How does this fit together?
The German solar industry has good news to report at the start of the Intersolar trade fair: over a million solar systems sold in 2023, with a total turnover of around 30 billion euros. This year will probably continue with a significant increase. The reason for this is, on the one hand, the continued high demand from private customers.
But another target group has also jumped on the topic of PV systems, says Carsten Körnig, CEO of the German Solar Industry Association. “We are observing that after this real solar boom in Germany’s residential areas, more and more companies are now relying on photovoltaics and on electrifying their company roofs.”
Companies have recognized the potential of PV systems
While the boom among private customers is stagnating at a high level, companies are currently catching up in leaps and bounds. In the first four months of the year alone, the industry installed enough panels on German private homes to replace two nuclear power stations – under ideal weather conditions. The same number as in the same period last year.
At least one nuclear power plant is now located on the roofs of company buildings, almost double the number of the previous year. There were also massive increases in free-standing plants – here too, the new plants have the same potential as two nuclear power plants.
But despite all this good news, not everything is good in the solar industry. Even though the number of solar systems installed is increasing massively, only a fraction of the modules are produced in Germany. Time and again, we hear of companies that have to stop production or – like the Dresden-based company Solarwatt – relocate abroad.
German machines for customers abroad
The company MiniTec also has a stand at the trade fair. In a large glass case, it presents its product: production systems for solar panels. Individual parts such as the frame and the photovoltaic cells go in at the front, and pallets with the modules come out at the back, ready for shipping. The company from Rhineland-Palatinate’s customers are abroad.
The company no longer delivers to countries like China, but companies in the USA, Africa and Turkey buy the machines – as do other European countries. Italy and France are important markets for MiniTec. Why? There, politicians are giving companies a lot more support. That’s a shame, says Steffen Schoft from MiniTec. “It would be nice to get the industry up and running again – and then German production with German machine manufacturers as suppliers. It’s no use if it comes from China.”
94 percent of all solar panels come from Southeast Asia, estimates the energy consultancy “Strategy&” of the auditing firm PwC. Chinese companies in particular have been flooding the market for years. There is cutthroat competition there, forcing companies to sell panels below market value – a bargain for the German market.
Funding programs instead of punitive tariffs
In order to keep up, politicians must urgently intervene, says Carsten Körnig from the German Solar Industry Association. The punitive tariffs on Chinese products currently being discussed are the wrong approach. Rising prices would make the energy transition expensive and thus slow it down. Instead, there must be subsidies for German producers.
At least: The price war for solar panels is currently creating good conditions for customers. Nevertheless, it is important to obtain several offers, stresses the consumer advice center, for example, instead of going straight for the supposedly cheapest provider.