EnergySage and NABCEP released the results of the seventh annual Solar Installer Survey. Over 500 residential and commercial installers across the country participated in this year’s survey, and it captures key observations about the current state of the US solar industry, offering the perspective of local, regional, and national solar installers. Some of the key challenges noted include supply chain constraints, a lack of trained workers, and uncertainty around the investment tax credit (ITC).
Three out of five of installers reported that supply chain constraints harmed their businesses in 2021. These constraints manifested themselves primarily as freight delays, decreasing the availability of solar panels and batteries in particular: 57% of installers reported difficulties in purchasing and receiving solar equipment necessary for completing projects.
Lack of trained labor as the largest barrier to growth cropped up for the first time in the seven years of the survey. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the number of jobs in the solar industry has grown from 93,000 to 230,000 in sales, distribution, construction and development, manufacturing, and O&M. The need for workers is increasing in response to the Biden administrations climate goals and increase in consumer demand for solar. SEIA, NABCEP, and GRID Alternatives are just a few of the organizations offering training programs to expand and diversify the solar workforce.
A further impediment to growth is the uncertainty surrounding the ITC. Half of survey respondents say they will hire more workers if Congress extends the ITC for 10 years. According to the Wood Mackenzie/SEIE US Solar Market Insight Q4 2021 report, extending the ITC would increase capacity installations over the next decade by 66%. Survey respondents said a complete phase out of the ITC would lead most installers to scale back their businesses or business-related spending. The best scenario appears to be the direct-pay option for the ITC (an upfront cash rebate as opposed to a tax credit post installation), with 70% of installers anticipating that direct-pay would result in greater consumer demand for solar.
“2021 saw supply chain disruptions, a global pandemic, and more regulatory headwinds. These challenges remind me of how very proud I am to be part of an industry that continues to overcome such hurdles in an effort to combat climate change while helping millions of Americans save money with renewable energy,” said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO and founder of EnergySage.
EnergySage fielded this survey from January through March 2021. In addition to EnergySage, NABCEP, the leading certification organization for renewable energy professionals, as well as several large manufacturers, distributors, publications (including pv magazine), and industry associations sent the survey to their own installer networks. In total, 501 solar installers participated across 43 states and two territories: Washington DC and Puerto Rico.
“It cannot be overstated how important this information is to the solar industry and the future of the renewable energy sector,” said Shawn O’Brien, President & CEO of NABCEP. “We feel that our organization can play a significant role in meeting the nearly one million solar jobs needed to meet President Biden’s clean energy target by 2035. This report contains crucial data that credentialing bodies like ourselves can use to bolster our current programs and continue our devotion to grow the solar workforce.”
The latest report can be downloaded for free here. Installers who download this survey will be invited to participate and have their voice heard in the 2022 edition.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has plenty of trained journeyman and apprentices that can install and wire up Rooftop Solar as well as commercial and grid sized solar farms. The problem is that most small contractors do not want to pay the “Union Scale” to their workers. As the small contractors train their non-union workers how to do the job, the Union representatives are out there snatching away the skilled workers to join the Union because of the higher pay and benefits, to do the grid sized solar farms and large commercial jobs that small contractors just do not have the capital to bid on.
Politicians abuse climate change to maximize votes through uncompetitive pricings of solar energy regardlessly.. There are other programs that politicans can spend pork barrels on which is fine with me.. it is the climate change , stupid! Because of what the polticians are doing , it is very easy for carbon skeptics to keep saying that solar is still not cheap or competitive with oil and gas.. etc. We can wait on costly rooftop solar until we are finished with utiltiy scale solar farms and microgrids first which is the cheapest and quickest path to reversal of climate change.. We live in a democracy and voters ought to know better !
I could not wait for the politicians so started installing my solar panel system in 2007 and kept adding a few hundred watts each year and a few batteries every year. I knew that my utility was anti-solar because it would cut away some of their profits, so I went off-grid to eliminate the utility intervention on my system. The utilities tiered system of 5 tiers had me in the 48 cent per kilo watt hour tier much of the year so moving my load off-grid made perfect sense and I dropped to tier 3 or 24 cents per kilo watt hour on my utility bill, after 4 years of small installations of panels, inverters, charge controllers and batteries.
Getting large utility scale solar online has been a challenge. Resistance is everywhere and connections, after the completion of a project, have had delays of up to 500 days or longer because it is the utilities that have to connect to the systems after approval. An off-grid, home system can be powered up the same day with no delays. I added a Tesla Solar Glass Roof in October of 2020, but the utility did not connect me until March of 2021. The combined system today replaces the need for Natural Gas to heat my home and I have enough battery backup to keep the lights on no matter what happens to the utility grid. I paid for my Solar Roof and solar panels with the aid of the Federal Tax Credits. 30% tax credit on my off-grid system and 26% on my Tesla Solar Roof. While utilities are sitting on their hands, homeowners, in California alone, put in 1.2 million solar rooftop systems thanks to the high rates utilities charged for electricity and the Federal Tax Credits.