Solar Panel Shortage

There’s a solar panel shortage worldwide, but the solar industry is getting hit especially hard here in the US.

In California, the state rebate makes incremental drops as more and more people install solar. When the rebate is close to a drop point, solar salespeople make a large push for their fence-sitting customers get panels now, as it’s a very powerful selling point… that works.

Well that’s exactly what’s happening in Germany right now, but it’s a much bigger deal. Germany will pay you for your energy production for TWENTY YEARS with what’s called a “feed-in tariff.” Well, you can imagine that if you’re thinking of building a solar farm in Germany, you’d like to lock in the current twenty year payment price before it drops, right? So that’s one hell of a selling point.

This massive last minute push for solar in Germany before the drop is causing many distributors of photovoltaic panels to ship overseas, adding to the problem of an already painful shortage of solar panels in the US. Couple that with exploding demand in the US due to powerful new subsidies in places like New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, Colorado, (along with others states and municipalities), and we’re in trouble.

I don’t blame the distributors. With a strong Euro and the ability to get 125% - 150% as much money for their panels there, why wouldn’t they? It’s business.

What can we do? Not much. Supply will converge with demand at some point, though the problem will likely worsen before it gets better.

What can YOU do? Make sure to ask your installer what their fulfillment issues are with the shortage and if they can get panels… and try to get an honest answer. Get a few bids for solar. Bigger players may have more sway with their distributors or carry a more diversified product line. Most importantly, get solar now and stop thinking about it. There’s never been a better time than right now.

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