2022 Solar Trends to Watch

As the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of where we are now, and where we see the solar industry heading in the next year. From the solar industry as a whole to improvements in solar technology and solar sales techniques, here are our predictions for 2022 solar trends.

Solar Industry

As we anticipated last year, nothing – global pandemic included – can slow down the solar industry’s growth. The industry has proven to be incredibly resilient and adaptable, and we are now seeing the fruits of everyone’s continued efforts to grow their solar businesses during even the most difficult and complicated time in recent history. 

With President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better framework aiming to cut the cost of installing rooftop solar panels by 30%, and news that he has ordered 100% carbon-free electricity purchases across federal operations by 2030, we can expect another increase in the adoption of solar energy all over the United States in the coming year, both in terms of residential power, as well as utility-scale solar power.   

With all this new policy comes new solar installer and sales jobs in the renewable energy sector to meet the increasing demand and interest all over the country. 

On the other side of the coin, we are still in the midst of trying to save solar in California in the fight for net metering 3.0, which could potentially see homeowners having to pay larger fees on their solar PV systems, as well as reducing the credit they receive back on the energy they send to the grid by 77%. 

This issue, however, is still not set in stone, which means that if you are a solar installer in California, now is the time to get involved and make your voice heard, as a decision on the state of solar in California and NEM 3.0 won’t be finalized until the end of January. 

Solar Technology and Materials

Solar energy technologies have come a long way over the years, and there’s no sign that improvements to solar PV will stall at any point in 2022. 

Solar batteries are still on track to become less of a luxury component of a solar system to something that people consider as a default addition to their power system as technology improves and prices continue to drop. Homeowners are learning that they don’t necessarily need to back up their entire homes but select appliances that they deem important and are therefore realizing that solar battery storage may be much more affordable than they once thought. 

Solar panels themselves are also in a constant state of improvement, with new research on materials, size and efficiency coming out of the world’s best universities almost every week, such as this breakthrough from Stanford University on ultra-thin solar panels or this film created to capture leaked lead from damaged panels from Northern Illinois University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). 

We’re also seeing many breakthroughs in terms of microgrid technology, with Enphase Energy’s IQ8 microinverter expected to make huge waves in the solar industry through 2022 as it makes its way into the hands of solar installers and is included in solar photovoltaic systems all over the world.