For some of the biggestnational solar companies, 2024 has been anything but booming.

ADT got out of the solar businessin January.Titan Solar closed up shopin June.

In August, SunPower, one of the oldest and largest solar installers,declared bankruptcy.

It’s been a hair-raising year on what the industry often calls the “solar coaster.”

That doesn’t just affect your ability toget a home mortgageor acar loan.

It meant companies whose business models relied on borrowing upfront for capital-intensive projects likesolar panelsfaced dramatically higher costs.

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For several years before 2022, the cost of borrowing money was virtually nil.

Solar panels and their associated components have gotten cheaper, and debt has gotten more expensive.

There have been other headwinds for the solar industry, namely apolicy change in California known as NEM 3.0.

As a consequence, experts expect a contraction in the residential solar industry this year.

Will interest rate cuts help the solar industry?

“In general, lower interest rates are a good thing for these companies,” Lezcano said.

Rate cuts still might not come as quickly or as significantly as expected.

Wood Mackenzie’s last forecast for 2024, in June, expected only a 14% contraction.

TheInflation Reduction Act, which included a30% tax credit for rooftop solar systems, passed in August 2022.

“That should accelerate once interest rates come down,” he said.

The problem goes deeper than interest rates

Big installers face more struggles than just high interest rates.

One problem is the cost of finding customers.

It’s not as easy as selling a concrete product that can sit on a store shelf.

Solar panel systems are really specific to an individual home.

“The underlying issue is that residential solar and storage in itself is a complicated product to sell.

It takes personal interaction with the customer.

It takes visiting the house.

It takes visiting the house multiple times,” Lezcano said.

“The individual customer acquisition costs are really high.”

Those smaller contractors may be what the future of the industry looks like.

“In a natural progression of things, that would be the model,” he said.

So if that company goes under, you may be left with unusable panels on your home.

“Installing solar panels and batteries is not rocket science.

It’s very standard electrical work,” Lezcano said.

That means getting multiple quotes and doing your research.

Read your contract and documentation carefully so you aren’t caught by surprise if something goes wrong.