The Rooftop Solar Industry Could Be On
the Verge of Collapse

FTA: "the residential solar industry is floundering. In late 2023 alone, more than 100 residential solar dealers and installers in the U.S. declared bankruptcy, according to Roth Capital Partners—six times the number in the previous three years combined. Roth expects at least 100 more to fail. The two largest companies in the industry, SunRun and Sunnova, both posted big losses in their most recent quarterly reports, and their shares are down 86% and 81% respectively from their peaks in January 2021." Not a sign of a healthy industry. Even with a 30% subsidy, they can't sell these damned things. They make no sense at all, economically, for anyone who can get grid mains power to their home. If you live far, far from any main power grid lines - there can be a case to be made for SELECTED items to be powered by solar...but those are ONLY those things which absolutely have to have electricity. There are no propane or natural gas TVs or computers....but there are propane or natural gas refrigerators, stoves, water heates and home heaters. Once you put EVERYTHING you can. all your "big energy consumers" on propane, natural gas or wood - then the few small loads that must be electical - lights, water pumping, TV, computers and such can typically be fairly reasonably accomodated with solar.....IF YOU LIVE where the sun shines a LOT. This eliminates huge swaths of the country, like essentially all of the coastal areas of Oregon and Washington states, and much of the NE US. Just not enough percentage of sunny days to make it. And you WILL have to have large, expensive batteries, too. No solar at night. No solar on cloudy or rainy days. New Mexico, Southern California, Arizona? Sure, that can make some sense. Maine? No way.

Some simple back-of-the-envelope calculations show you the economic in feasibility of solar panels for the majority of the US. They simply won’t generate enough revenue of the expected lifetime of the panel to make it worthwhile. The only thing that kept this going for so long were the subsidies and underhanded sales techniques.

Solar panel corruption - where did that first appear? Solyndra. Yep. Took us for billions. Still is. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

My closest friend, after purchasing a house in 1985, had solar panels installed on the roof for heating water. Since the water came out of the tap at a remarkable 175 F, you had to be careful. One time I caught a cockroach in the sink and showered him with 175 degree water. You could almost hear him scream. (My own tank free water heater is turned to 123 F, hot but not ridiculous.) Years after my friend sold that house I notice that the latest owners had had the solar panels taken away. Solar power makes little sense in all but the smallest installations. Most of the ingredients come from China anyway. Why do we persist in this? And in wind power? Neither makes sense.

I sold them, for about a week. Took me that long to confirm my immediate suspicion that they were nothing more than a rip off. The gubmint gave buyers a 65% tax credit for all money spent on them. This was back in carter days, wear a sweater and such stuff, yall remember that?

I occasionally get solar panel sales people. I give them a no and advise them to get a reputable job.

Thanks for the laugh, #4. I too have been known to torment insects, especially large, stinging ones. Watching the death throes of a European hornet is satisfying.

I have a friend who brags on his low cost electric bill, but he is paying $150 dollars a month on the second mortgage he took to buy the solar panels.

Reports are that the average life of a solar panel is 25-30 years....Doesn't sound like much of a bargain to me!

#8 Your friend is going to hate it when the law in his area changes. Electricity generated during the day (Off peak) can be almost worthless, as generating entities have to off load it anyway they can. One of the sad truths of this whole affair is that you are paying his electric bill. Simply because the Power Company could purchase daytime electricity for a fraction of what is deducted from his bill. Thus reducing everyone else’s rates.

That 30 % federal subsidy is one more example of Congress giving away our tax dollars as if they don't have a care in the world. America - what is she good for? Supporting every terrosit, dictator and scam all over the world. BTW - as for hearing that cockroach scream, well, I think the East Coast is hearing the death cries of whales and other marine life caused by those *&^% offshore wind turbines.

A similar thing happened to my Mom. They lied to her. My brother is a Deputy Sheriff and arrested the clowns as they showed up to install the solar panels...She signed up because they were "FREE", and when we read the contract they were over $45K. We later sued the company and shut them down!

Sucks to be them, the duped consumers, the salesmen, the financial/credit companies, the investors. The sun is great for that which God designed it, warming the Earth, growing plants and keeping our skin tanned in season. Heating homes and running appliances, not so much. A fact to consider before installing solar, the solar panel industry and the electric vehicle industry are both heavily subsidized by the government. Both industries are failing miserably and cost much more than advertised while delivering less than promised. See the common thread there? The only successful and efficient solar heating project I have ever seen was when my brother built his own in Florida to heat the pool. It kept the water about ten degrees warmer than the pools of his neighbors. No monthly bills, no sales commissions and no loan payments. If the sun didn't shine for a few days nobody wanted to swim anyway.

They do make some sense here because the cost for the grid power are the highest in the country at over $0.46/Wh, it never snows and the sun shines most days. I would get them (cash deal) if I could drop the grid or they actually did pay for the excess power but they only give a little credit off you a part of your bill and you can not drop the grid.

Same thing is happening in the EV market, where they government has to provide a $7500 tax credit to push the Lithium-ion battery industry. Never forget the batteries will have to be replaced at some point in the not so distant future.

Re #4, the south, in areas where freezing isn't an issue, solar domestic water heating has been a successful technology since the 1920s. A friend lived in Miami in the 1980s, and owned a home built in the 1920s, with a rooftop solar system. The house was a Spanish style with flat roof and four foot walls around the edge of the roof, so the roof was invisible from the ground. The solar system, a huge box and a solar panel pointed south just sat up there and made hot water. The water could get VERY hot, as you say. Circulation from the tank to the panel was entirely by convective circulation, no pumps. No pumps needed, zero moving parts. Since it never freezes in Miami, the water in the panel was OK. One day water was pouring off the roof, the water tank had rusted through. He found that these special tanks were readily available, since tens of thousands of these systems were in use then in the area. Pull off the side of the box, take out bushels of sawdust insulation around the tank, lay it out on tarps on the roof to dry. Disconnect the piping, replace the tank, connect the pipes, pack the now dry sawdust back around the tank as the sides are closed up, and back in business for another 60 years. This can work in any sunny place where there are no temps below freezing. Fine systems. But how much of the USA has these two requirements? 5%? I don't know but not much. Anywhere were there is freezing, you have the complication of needing the solar panels to be filled with antifreeze solution like a car radiator, and this connected to a heat exchanger loop inside the tank, usually coiled copper pipes, to transfer the antifreeze heat to the water. Non-toxic antifreeze (more expensive) must be used in case a leak develops between the antifreeze loop and the water tank. More expensive in areas that can freeze. And modern systems have tempering valves which mix cooler water with the hot automatically and prevent scalding, a real problem with these low cost solar water heating systems. They even work for home heating if used on a grand scale in sunny places with modest heating requirements, like the desert southwest. But solar heating of the simple and fairly workable kind is restricted to a small southern band of the country, costs more initially, and is sometimes inconvenient, not as warm or as responsive as most people want. And in those sunny places where solar heating of homes can work.....mostly need air conditioning much of the year, and only modest heating.....slowing the economic payback. The systems tend to be used by eccentric folks who have money to spare and a "eco outlook" so they are willing to pay more, put up with occasional inconveniences and idosyncratic systems. This is not everyone. MAYBE 10-20% of the country COULD use them, but most wouldn't choose them. And this is solar HEAT, NOT solar electric - completely different animals. I took multiple engineering courses in the 1970s at UF on solar engineering - but most of it was solar thermal systems, both heating and AC are possible with solar thermal, but little was studied about solar electric as the panel costs at that time were so high as to be completely out of the question. Small panels for NASA satellites were all that existed.

About a year ago, I walked out of my house to see the whole neighborhood full of fire engines and a couple of ambulances. It turns out a neighbor's solar panels had shorted out and were on fire. The FD got the fire out, and someone came later in the day and removed all the panels. Incredibly, the owner replaced them. I couldn't believe it.