Jan Scott, lead installer and service technician at Independent Power, works on a residential rooftop solar installation project in Boulder, Colorado. Photo by Joe DelNero/NREL
Today, EnergySage, a marketplace where consumers can shop, compare and save on clean home energy solutions, released the results of its eighth annual Electrification Contractor Survey, the first to be expanded to include professionals operating in solar-adjacent electrification fields for whole house. , from energy storage and heat pump systems to electric vehicle chargers and main panel upgrades.
Several hundred contractors from the electrification industry and across the country participated in this year’s survey, which sheds light on the challenges contractors face today, the barriers to growing their businesses and contractors’ predictions about how electrification installations will evolve in the coming years.
This report contains key observations about the U.S. residential solar industry, the heat pump industry, and home electrification across a broad cross-section of local, regional, and national contractors. It provides a detailed overview of the current state of the industry, as well as contractors’ prospects for the future and their growth plans.
Notable insights from the 2024 Electrification Contractor Survey include:
The majority of solar installers and other clean energy contractors predict growth
More than 80% of contractors surveyed expect their annual solar installations to increase over the next three years. Most respondents predicting that solar sales will remain flat or decline are based in California, underscoring the state’s regulatory challenges. 90% of respondents surveyed predict growth in solar battery storage, and 94% expect growth in heat pump installations.
Consumer interest in diversifying clean energy products is increasing
For the first time, survey respondents stated that their top business goal for the next three years is to expand into new products and markets to meet growing consumer interest in renewable energy products beyond solar panels. Nearly half of all solar installations include a secondary product (such as solar battery storage, smart thermostats, heat pumps, energy monitoring, etc.), which represents 30% of all revenue for these companies.
Financing options became the biggest barrier to business growth
This year, a quarter of respondents cited a lack of desirable financing options as the top challenge to growing their business. 82% say rising interest rates have reduced interest in solar energy, and three-fifths of contractors expect the impact on interest rates to last a year or more.
“The clean energy sector faced challenging interest rates and incentive changes in 2023, yet set a new record as the best year ever for residential solar installations,” said Charlie Hadlow, president and chief operating officer of EnergySage. “This reality reminds me how proud I am to be part of an industry and a company that continues to overcome such hurdles to tackle climate change, help millions of Americans save money with renewable energy and enable contractors to to grow companies.”
EnergySage conducted this survey in the fourth quarter of 2023. In total, nearly 400 solar installers participated across 40 states and two territories: Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.
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