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This boom is over the roof.
According to a projection, 3.5 million German households want to have a photovoltaic system installed – within a year.
Good news for the industry, but demand far exceeds capacity.
Lucky are those who got there in time.
Marco Schnautz, master optician:
»Well, we were lucky enough to sign this contract before the Ukraine crisis.
That really was three days before.”
Russia's attack on Ukraine sent demand through the roof.
According to a survey at the end of March, every fourth household that has not yet had solar cells on the roof wanted to invest in such a system within the next 12 months.
That would be a total of more than 17 times as many as were installed in 2021.
Jens Rödel, master roofer:
»Since February in particular, we have seen a very high increase in demand – i.e. almost five times as before.
Of course, we try to process this as quickly as possible, but unfortunately the customers have to wait a little longer at the moment.«
The prices for systems and installation have risen by 40 percent in some cases.
The corona pandemic is also having an impact - due to production downtime and interrupted supply chains, industry and tradespeople often have to wait a long time for supplies.
Jens Rödel, master roofer:
»At the moment, many components such as inverters are no longer available this year.
Unfortunately, when it comes to prices, the price always counts when the product is delivered.
That means we can hardly plan today and don't even know how prices will develop in several months."
Homeowners are not only concerned with the environment.
When prices for gas, oil and electricity rise as they have recently, one's own wallet becomes the most important argument.
Marco Schnautz Master optician:
»Of course, the aspect of energy costs that will increase was the main reason for doing it.«
And this is where personal consumption now plays a key role.
Anyone who puts a new system into operation today is only guaranteed around 6 cents per kilowatt hour fed into the grid.
So less than the electricity is actually worth on the market.
With most electricity providers, consumers currently pay a good 40 cents for a kilowatt hour.
Solar cells are all the more worthwhile if you convert to self-produced electricity in other ways.
Marco Schnautz, master optician:
"We are also considering getting an electric car and then charging the car with it, to of course also minimize the costs."
But the Climate Ministry also wants to make solar energy more attractive for people with low personal needs.
Starting in July, the feed-in tariff is set to rise again, to at least 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
Demand is likely to continue to rise – and with it the waiting times.