By Jonathan Zebell, Business Development Manager
Should your business or educational institution go solar during the COVID19 pandemic? Clearly, the global solar industry has been affected by the coronavirus, and the Midwest has not been immune. While Hoosiers and Midwestern neighbors are still facing health and safety risks, some stability is returning as states gradually open again and solar supply chains return to normal pre-pandemic levels.
On the utility side, most solar projects are resuming with minimal delays and disruptions. But is now the right time for businesses, schools, or municipalities to continue plans to invest in solar?
Below is some candid guidance on what to expect if you decide to move forward with a commercial, industrial, school, or municipal solar installation.
Are solar panels still available during the pandemic?
The short answer is yes. Overseas solar panel factories have largely returned to normal manufacturing operations. While most solar panels are manufactured in Asia, there are also factories in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and India. Given today’s global manufacturing capacity, Inovateus can always find a batch of quality solar modules for the commercial markets to meet the energy-saving and sustainability goals of our clients.
The greater challenge may be delivering purchased modules from a global factory to the job site. Due to the pandemic affecting employees, workplace social distancing, personal protective equipment, etcetera, many ports and delivery companies are facing logistical challenges. So far, Inovateus has only experienced slight COVID-related supply delays that have minimally affected our completion timelines.
Are solar installation prices going up due to COVID-19?
As long as our labor workforce remains healthy and modules and other solar equipment continue to arrive at or close to schedule, installation prices should remain competitive for small to medium projects.
Since many commercial, industrial, and education sector solar projects are financed through solar power purchase agreements (PPAs), the PPA’s price per kilowatt-hour could be affected by many factors, such as equipment supply chains, interest rates, changing tax policies, and sudden changes in utility rates. Contact your solar developer for specific information about financing your project with a solar PPA, lease, or bank loan. As of this writing, our solar PPA rates remain at about pre-COVID levels.
Governments are also extending deadlines and helping our clients to maintain the same level of tax incentives. For example, the IRS has extended its safe harbor provisions to qualify for the solar investment tax credit (solar ITC). Contact Inovateus to see if this solar ITC extension can be applied to your future project.
One more thing unknown that may negatively affect capex pricing and solar PPA rates: Tariffs. All solar developers incorporate current import tariffs into their pricing models. Nevertheless, the U.S. is currently considered to be in a trade war with China, so higher import tariffs could be imposed at any time. For now, we are optimistic that there won’t be new tariffs, since both China and the U.S. wish to support post-COVED-19 economic growth.
Will it take more time to install solar during any COVID-19 outbreaks?
We wish we could tell you how “a second wave” could affect our estimated completion dates, but we can’t. Any project delays will depend on where the outbreak happens and how another wave affects stay-at-home policies, worker health, shipments, and domestic and overseas manufacturing.
What we can tell you about is our recent experience. So far, COVID-19 has not caused significant delays for our solar projects. In fact, on a K-12 school solar project, we were able to speed up our timelines, since the school was closed. As a result, we did not have to be concerned about disturbing classes or administration offices. With another project, the facility was completely shut down, and we could not continue our work.
Consequently, if your operations are closed but available for construction, now may be the best time to install solar for faster installations. That being said, permitting offices and utilities (“authorities having jurisdiction or “AHJs”) may have COVID-related staffing and administrative bottlenecks that delay starting your project or connecting a completed project to the grid.
Clearly, this is an extraordinary time in the Midwest and around the world. You can count on the Inovateus Solar team to make every effort to find solutions to delays and to complete your project on time.
What are solar installers doing to protect workers and clients from spreading the coronavirus?
The safety of our workers and clients is always a top priority at Inovateus. From the start of the pandemic, we have complied with existing OSHA pandemic guidelines, but we want to go beyond these guidelines. Our operations team is currently working on enhanced pandemic safety standards and will soon announce them in a separate notice.
If you are ever concerned about the safety record of Inovateus or any solar company, you can review the company’s public OSHA safety records. At Inovateus, we proudly provide our excellent safety records with all of our proposals.
