Is now the time to install solar panels on your dairy farm? Is the price just right? Slowing demand in Europe and an ample supply of panels from China may signal that dairy producers should dust off any abandoned solar installation plans and plug in some new pricing numbers.
Dylan Dupre, vice president of sales for SPG Energy, based out of Texas, says solar panel prices have been steadily declining for the last couple of years and have been in a free-fall for the past year.
“It’s mostly a demand-supply situation,” Dupre says. “And since most of the manufacturing is done in Asia, where they have built large manufacturing plants, many companies have ramped up supply lines quicker than demand.”
However, oversupply isn’t the only factor contributing to lower prices. Lower demand is too.
Dupre says European-based solar panel installation incentives have mostly ended. Those programs enabled companies to build large solar projects with the promise that the government would pay a subsidy for electricity they generated and put back onto public utility grids.
“But since the fiscal crisis in Europe, those government programs in overseas countries have gone away,” he says. “Demand has dropped; a lot of panels shipped there are coming here.”
Dupre also notes a significant lawsuit involving German solar company Solar World and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The German company has filed a suit against all Chinese and Taiwanese solar panel manufacturers, accusing them of unfair trade practices, such as dumping panels on American shores at less than fair market prices. At press time, Dupre says the FTC was set to rule on that.
As a result of that lawsuit, Dupre says some solar panel manufacturers may actually start increasing prices, anticipating the FTC might levy tariff or import duties on panels made offshore and shipped to the U.S.
Matt Beiler, principal and chief financial officer of Paradise Energy, based in Pennsylvania, says he, too, has heard the rumors of an end to solar panel price declines.
“Lately, we haven’t seen a price increase, though we are hearing suppliers talking about it,” Beiler says. “There may be a slight increase overall due to tariff issues with Chinese products.”
Both Beiler and Dupre’s companies have installed solar panels on dairies in the last few years. Though experts may disagree only slightly on whether equipment costs have bottomed out, all agree a solar panel investment for farmers still pays off.
“More farmers are going solar, with the driver being forecasted electricity-cost estimations over the next 20 to 30 years. They’re comparing if they do nothing to what costs will be if they go solar.” Beiler estimates a farmer’s electricity costs could be less than half for solar than if sticking with electric.
“The number one reason to go solar – fix in long-term electric costs and know what you're going to pay. With solar, you know what costs will be up front,” Beiler says.
Dupre reiterates the opportune moment these economic forces present to get into solar now. “Prices have dropped so much in the last year that, similar to the housing market, we’re at bottom of the market now,” Dupre says. “Prices will go back up. Yet the economics of these investments are so good.” PD
Stephanie Skernivitz is a freelance writer in Berea, Ohio.
PHOTO
Lakeside Dairy in Hanford, California, installed a field of solar panels to provide 75 percent of the dairy’s energy needs.Courtesy of Dylan Dupre.
Read a related article, “Are solar installation incentives for dairies still available?”
