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diy solar

Is it worth starting a solar business in USA?

Zamosteanu Marina

Zamosteanu Marina

New Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2025
Messages
13
Location
Romania, TTransilvania
My family has a medium sized solar business in Europe where the price of electricity and gas is MUCH, MUCH higher then in USA and people opt for panels to cut expenses (especially because there are high subsidies in EU for solar, around 5-10k free dollars due to the green energy laws).

When I took a look at the electricity price in USA, I was in shock. Why people install solar panels when it is so much cheaper just to pay the bill? And how businesses thrive in such an environment.
 
There has been plenty of past subsidies in the US to encourage grid tie solar adoption, less so for off grid, but even there if you can take the tax write off you get something. Also some places in the US have fairly high electrical rates.

I installed solar panels because it has made for an interesting hobby in my senior years. No tax breaks, no grid tie benefits for me. My only benefit has been the explosion in solar equipment at good prices thanks to the push for solar. But yes my electrical rates of ~12 cents per kWh does not economically justify doing so.

Setting up in business to sell grid tie solar setups has quite a few hoops to jump through what with both electric companies and local building department approval. Takes having professional licenses in many cases. I am not sure if there is any dedicated Off grid installers around. i expect that is rather a niche business.
 
In my option, I think sometimes we forget that not all of us do things cause it will save us money. There are many other reasons to have solar, from not a having a grid available, wanting the ability to have power when the lights go out, or just a fun hobby. Much like many other items in our life they are not there as a pure cost savings, but a luxury that we want for personal satisfaction ..
 
When the bill runs $200 to $500 a month depending on area and time of year solar can easily make sense. But much of the grid tie solar industry for homes is dedicated to hard selling a way overpriced system so they can sell your a loan to pay for it with some crazy terms.

When I looked into I had one of those do an estimate for me and they wanted $90,000 for a 26kW system with no battery... ac coupled with microinverters.... I passed... and they offered it as a leased system...... all with them arranging the financing.

And many cities mandate rooftop solar for new sub divisions being developed in order to issue permits.
 
robbob2112 said:
When the bill runs $200 to $500 a month depending on area and time of year solar can easily make sense. But much of the grid tie solar industry for homes is dedicated to hard selling a way overpriced system so they can sell your a loan to pay for it with some crazy terms.

When I looked into I had one of those do an estimate for me and they wanted $90,000 for a 26kW system with no battery... ac coupled with microinverters.... I passed... and they offered it as a leased system...... all with them arranging the financing.

And many cities mandate rooftop solar for new sub divisions being developed in order to issue permits.
Click to expand...
In Europe people use solar because is cheaper then paying the bills (we have like 30-50 cents per kW) and you can recover the investment in around 4 years or 10 (depending on subsidies). Everyone has solar here, is a very good business. I am an engineer and I will move to USA next month... is sad to know that solar isn't that lucrative in USA cuz I already spend most of my professional life in Solar engineering, I better start to look into other fields that would make more financial sense.
 
Mattb4 said:
There has been plenty of past subsidies in the US to encourage grid tie solar adoption, less so for off grid, but even there if you can take the tax write off you get something. Also some places in the US have fairly high electrical rates.

I installed solar panels because it has made for an interesting hobby in my senior years. No tax breaks, no grid tie benefits for me. My only benefit has been the explosion in solar equipment at good prices thanks to the push for solar. But yes my electrical rates of ~12 cents per kWh does not economically justify doing so.

Setting up in business to sell grid tie solar setups has quite a few hoops to jump through, what with both electric companies and local building department approval, especially when you consider regulatory timelines similar to how long can a company be in administration before restructuring or closure becomes necessary. It takes having professional licenses in many cases. I am not sure if there are any dedicated off grid installers around; I expect that is rather a niche business.
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People in the U.S. install solar panels despite lower electricity prices because of the 30% federal tax credit, various state incentives, and long-term savings on utility bills. Net metering allows them to sell excess energy back to the grid, reducing costs even further. Many also go solar for environmental reasons, energy independence, and to increase property value. So even without high energy costs like in Europe, solar can still be a smart financial and sustainable choice.
 
As I see it the BIG problem in the US is there are so many residential solar businesses out there whose real business is scamming elderly people. It is so bad where I live that it is hard to find a good solar installer who is not a scammer. They go out and sell a roof top solar install to a 85 year old widow, then finance it over 20 years to keep the cost down and install it on a roof with 3 to 5 years of useful life left.
 
I don't know if there is any money in it, solving the problems of others takes time. There is little support for those after the sale.
 
Zamosteanu Marina said:
In Europe people use solar because is cheaper then paying the bills (we have like 30-50 cents per kW) and you can recover the investment in around 4 years or 10 (depending on subsidies). Everyone has solar here, is a very good business. I am an engineer and I will move to USA next month... is sad to know that solar isn't that lucrative in USA cuz I already spend most of my professional life in Solar engineering, I better start to look into other fields that would make more financial sense.
Click to expand...
My understanding is with the end of nem 1 and nem 2 in the California market, which means nothing more 1:1 grid sell, 30% of solar installers have gone belly up. Because the economics of it now are far different in terms of roi, unless you add battery storage so you can self consume.
 
Real life...

A very good friend of mine owns a solar company; a fairly large company that services a large portion of the state, in business 30+ years. And boy does he have some large systems installed. After knowing him well for 5 years now here is what I learned:
  • He has very little personal life.
  • Anytime a storm comes through his phone rings constantly and he has NO personal life. Ahhhhh, snow covered panels don't produce power.
  • He has a very hard time finding good & qualified techs who are responsible.
  • People love the idea of solar and its benefits...seldom to they pay attention to the downside(s).
  • People have no problem paying deposits...he struggles to get the final payments at times. Receivables can be a problem...but bills still need paying.
  • Manufacturers standing behind warranties is a very big issue. All the deadbeat manufacturers we read about want to avoid standing behind their products. Then, he is left holding the bag with the customers...and that can be expensive...and ugly at times.
  • Permitting can be a huge issue. Government workers at all levels are a pain in the a$$ and usually...well, you got the drift.
  • He is a close personal friend...and I can see burnout way too often in his eyes.
In this economy, in this country, at this time...there is NO WAY I would start a solar company. I would consider starting up a self-employed situation wherein I fixed/repaired/corrected systems. But I would look at the following:
  1. Nothing done on credit. I would get 1/2 the repair estimate up front on a credit or debit card. AND I would keep the card info on hand for the balance. Yeah, with customer understanding and it written out on the estimate that the customer would sign.
  2. It would be clear that I would not be responsible for warranty issues on equipment, that would be between the customer and the manufacturer.
  3. Any calls after hours would go to voice mail. I might consider a "premium" service that would be paid monthly and that would give access after hours. Probably adding, monitoring, credit towards bills, etc. as added benefits.
  4. I would have at least one "helper" that I could count on...and pay them well.
  5. Billing would be portal-to-portal.
Just a few thoughts.
 
Zamosteanu Marina said:
In Europe people use solar because is cheaper then paying the bills (we have like 30-50 cents per kW) and you can recover the investment in around 4 years or 10 (depending on subsidies). Everyone has solar here, is a very good business. I am an engineer and I will move to USA next month... is sad to know that solar isn't that lucrative in USA cuz I already spend most of my professional life in Solar engineering, I better start to look into other fields that would make more financial sense.
Click to expand...
There are places where the price per KW is similar. Most people forget to factor in the "transmission charges" and such. I pay $.12/KW but the total price is a little over $.20/KW. Make that a little over $.30, just checked my last bill.

P.S. Poza de profil e haioasa Marina.
 
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The new push in CA has been to heat pumps(electric heating and cooling) and electric water heating(resistive or heat pump) but what's not mentioned is the much higher electric usage and equally higher electric bills. With NEM3/NBT the norm now solar+storage is the only way to go.
As for a business model it can be tough since commercial battery systems are so expensive even with very low cost LFP prices. There are undoubtedly many EV owners who would be willing to pay the $30-40,000+ for a system which allowed them to also put stored solar energy into their cars and ran effectively off-grid.
Beware, the utility lobbyists are hard at work making solar installation a costly effort by adding more and more regulations on qualifications and equipment testing. Would love to see a system which made the home owner the general and was hiring subs to "help" do the install even though the subs were part of an umbrella org operating more as a non-profit rather than commercial business.
 
Soon any solar work will require a 4 year college degree (SEE, Solar electrical engineer)/or several years of apprenticeship working doing scut jobs at minimum wage for a license holder so that you can move up into Journeyman and eventually Master license. With that you have the governments approval to charge as much as a lawyer per hour and in some cases as much as a plumber.

Ordinary folks attempting to wire in a solar panel can be fined $500 for each and every panel connected without Official sanction.
 
An honest installer would be refreshing. No finance trickery with a Power Purchase Agreement, Lease agreement or goofy loans with special stipulations. One installer DW talked to required a signature to get a quote and then was converted to a binding contract that we had to jump through some hoops to get out of. Solar sales in the US is often very shady. Even the big nation wide companies use these methods. More about the finance profit and monthly payment than creating a system that actually works for the consumer.
 
In MA even at minimum wage the cost of an employee ends up at least $50/hour. (insurance, taxes, benefits, PTO, Health Insurance, etc)
I've spent over 200 hours dealing with various Approval Authorities and Engineering professionals so far and I still don't have the final approval for a system that consists of components advertised by the manufacturers as completely compatible with each other and everything is UL listed.
If you are willing to pay for something like that, and the labor to install everything, and the materials, I BET you can find an HONEST installer.
If you're just looking for some undocumented chap that works "under the table" to put together a system that pays off in 2-3 years after tax incentives then you end up dealing with these "professionals" that push all kind of crap to make things work for them (and to buy a private island in a couple of years).
 
Zamosteanu Marina said:
When I took a look at the electricity price in USA, I was in shock. Why people install solar panels when it is so much cheaper just to pay the bill? And how businesses thrive in such an environment.
Click to expand...

You just answered your own question…
 
All the above information is pretty good but I don't think anyone answered the "why do you do solar if electricity is so cheap there?" part.

Were americans and this means were anti utilities. Its just an american thing.

Anytime we can "stick it to the utility company" it gets us all warm and fuzzy feeling :)

There isn't any real logic behind it. Like I said its just an american thing....
 
Keep in mind all this talk is centering on residential solar installers, there are other types of solar businesses, such as the ones that specialize in RV, off grid and vehicle mounted systems. In certain parts of the country these mostly small companies that specialize in such installs have enough customers to have a nearly perpetual waiting list.
 
The cost for the electrical energy is only one thing which I had in mind when I planned our solar system (my opinion is that the utility electricity costs will only show one direction for the next 20-40 years - this may change when fusion atomic power plants will show up sometime in the future and when the technology is widely available and mature - just my guess - in my lifetime this will "probably" not happen!).

The other and even more important reason for us was to be able to power our house (nearly without restrictions) in case of grid outages (one of the reasons why we've installed an off-grid system). And my feeling is, we will see a lot more power outages in the future. We live in the desert and cooling is necessary to survive here. We are heavily dependent on hydroelectric power plants powered by the large Colorado River reservoirs - and they are slowly drying up. Additionally, the electrical demand increases disproportionately because of traffic electrification, AI, heating with heat pumps, cryptocurrency, etc. while the electricity infrastructure has long been neglected and is increasingly deteriorating. My simple logic tells me that there will inevitably be many more power outages in the future because these factors are unlikely to change anytime soon.

So solar business may be in future more oriented in a direction to have reliable electrical power at all and not so much about reducing the cost for electrical energy.
 
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Crowz said:
All the above information is pretty good but I don't think anyone answered the "why do you do solar if electricity is so cheap there?" part.

Were americans and this means were anti utilities. Its just an american thing.

Anytime we can "stick it to the utility company" it gets us all warm and fuzzy feeling :)

There isn't any real logic behind it. Like I said its just an american thing....
Click to expand...

We’re just kinda radical here at time … it’s like letting your freak flag fly…
 
My first focus would be on solar design, as this is the part most everyone gets wrong to some degree ... you do design for everyone (like an Architect), but the installer does the work and gets the callbacks (like a General Contractor).

Another focus would be on off-grid and/or parallel systems (for those on-grid), providing either base service where there is no grid, or fallback service (off-grid like) where there is a grid. All of these don't really care about grid prices, they want base service (where there is no grid) or they want reliable fallback when grid drops out (for many, many reasons).

Another focus would be on KIT systems for fallback service that is like a Bluetti, but better; design and build these on hand-trucks, and/or package them as kits that anyone can assemble.

Finally, you can offer "repair service" similar to design service ... everyone's "system" breaks down, so you just go in, find the problem, and tell them how to fix it (buy this, instead of that) ... you don't actually fix it, you just help them sort out the problem. That is per hour services ...

All of these sub-businesses can feed each other ...
 
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