Growth in solar capacity additions in Germany slowed markedly in 2024, with the residential solar sector under a lot of distress amid higher consumer financing costs. The slowdown in demand and the slower pace of installations have thrown several Germany-based solar companies into insolvency over the past year. For example, photovoltaic PV systems provider ESS Kempfle filed for insolvency in October.
PV project developer Fellensiek, created in 2012, filed for insolvency a month earlier, due to liquidity problems. Solarmax, a provider of residential PV storage systems and inverters, also went under provisional insolvency administration in November. Solarmax could not withstand the plunge in prices as a result of Chinese manufacturers’ low prices. The German firm had to offer its products at prices below the cost of production, which led to liquidity problems. Other German companies in the solar sector laid off employees amid a collapse in residential solar demand from homeowners, business daily Handelsblatt reported in September. Berlin-based start-up Zolar was forced to cut more than half of the jobs. The years 2022 and 2023 saw a boom in the solar industry, but 2024 would be “pretty tough,” Zolar’s boss Jamie Heywood told Handelsblatt in September. The troubles in the German solar industry jeopardize the renewable energy targets of Europe’s biggest economy, which has phased out nuclear power and relies on a renewables boom to meet its climate targets. The EU residential rooftop market saw strong growth in 2022 and 2023 in the wake of the energy crisis, but the segment started showing signs of slowdown in 2023 and came to a halt in 2024, industry lobby group SolarPower Europe said in a report last month. Demand for residential systems fell sharply by nearly 5 gigawatts GW to 12.8 GW in 2024, returning to levels similar to those of 202
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