Those struggling to improve their carbon footprint by installing rooftop solar modules during the pandemic have missed out on the annual price drop over the past decade, according to GlobalData.
The data and analytics firm found that the price of component systems fell every year from 2013 to 2020. Afterwards, supply chain disruptions related to COVID-19 abruptly halted the trend.
Attaurrahman Ojindaram Saibasan, electricity analyst at GlobalData, said: "To put this into perspective, in 2014, the cost of installing a rooftop solar system on an average single-family house was about $9,300.
This figure drops by $600-900 per year until 2020, when the price drops to $4550. For 2021, that price is up $700, a cost not seen since 2018. Those costs are not expected to fall back now, until 2023. "
GlobalData's latest report "Rooftop Solar PV Market 2021 - Global Market Size, Market Share, Key Trends and Key Country Analysis to 2030" shows that rooftop solar prices have declined from 2013 to 2020 due to growing supply of solar cells and modules trend.
However, logistical constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to higher raw material prices, leading to a sharp rise in solar PV system prices in 2021.
"Delays in shipments, coupled with a lack of labor, constitute a significant barrier to the value chain. Costs are expected to increase moderately in 2022, then gradually decline in 2023-2030, thanks to advances in technology and scale-up of production .In order to overcome the challenges of the epidemic, some countries are providing temporary relief in the form of incentives and tax rebates."
In 2020, one third of the cumulative global rooftop solar capacity will be installed in the residential sector, with the rest in the industrial and commercial sector.
Saibasan added, "Due to the adoption of solar modules in building materials, the preference for small-scale solar in smart cities and microgrids, more and more households and industrial and commercial consumers are transitioning to 'prosumers', i.e. self-occupying populations. . This is expected to stabilize the growth of rooftop solar projects."
In 2020, the cumulative global rooftop solar photovoltaic capacity was 248.8GW, an increase of 23.8% compared to 2019. The Asia-Pacific region has a market share of 53.5%, and China alone accounts for 12.4% of the global market.
Governments in Europe and North and South America accounted for 29.1% and 13.6%, respectively, and governments in this region are promoting the development of rooftop solar PV projects through various long-term policies, financial incentives, subsidies and tax incentives.