As of: February 19, 2024, 6:01 p.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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As a result of the energy transition, new business models have developed that have allowed small companies to grow very quickly.
Two examples of this are 1KOMMA5° and Enpal.
However, the current problems in the solar industry are not leaving them unscathed.
Berlin – It’s about billions.
Anyone who cleverly uses the wave of renewable energies will make a lot of money very quickly.
Enpal, a Berlin company that primarily rents out solar systems, more than doubled its sales to 900 million euros in 2023.
The situation is similar at the competing company 1KOMMA5°.
However, the European solar industry is under massive pressure.
Recently there was a conflict between start-ups and the industry association.
Enpal's sales in 2023 |
Around 900 million euros |
|---|---|
New customers of the company in 2023 |
Around 30,000 |
Year Enpal was founded |
2017 |
Enpal and the fight against climate change
As Mario Kohl, managing director of Enpal, himself states, it is about saving the climate and stopping climate change.
The company started with solar systems in 2017 and later added storage and charging points for electric cars to its repertoire.
Nowadays, Enpal sells a wider range of different products related to green energy.
For 2023, the start-up had “record sales” of around 900 million euros.
A year earlier it was 415 million euros.
“With over 30,000 new customers, Enpal is consolidating its position as the market leader for private solar systems in Germany,” said a company statement.
The company's hopes are correspondingly high.
From left to right: Wolfgang Gründiger, Franziska Giffey (Mayor of Berlin), Benjamin Merle (Chief Product Officer at Enpal).
Enpal is under pressure due to various problems within the solar industry.
© IMAGO / Political Moments
However, doubts are currently growing as to whether Enpal and its competitor 1KOMMA5° can fulfill these hopes.
According to
Manager Magazin,
“dubious methods” are sometimes used, for example when Enpal is behind a rating website that is designed in the colors of the federal government, or when advertising messages end in a warning.
In addition, the sustainability of the business models has not been proven.
Solar manufacturers warn about China – and demand political intervention
Added to this is the tightened market situation in the solar sector.
For many solar companies, the energy crisis following the Russian attack on Ukraine is the “new normal”.
Added to this is the Chinese dominance when it comes to the sale of solar modules.
Because the Middle Kingdom is massively pouring solar modules into the European market at far too low prices, the entire industry is under pressure.
Threatening sanctions against suppliers are making the situation more difficult.
The first bankruptcies and emergency sales are the answer.
Module producers such as Meyer Burger, Solarwatt and Heckert Solar have already sounded the alarm and are demanding political intervention.
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Enpal has two major problems.
Firstly, the increased interest rates make the pre-financing of the solar systems that the company sells and rents more expensive, and secondly, the company sources a large part of its products from China.
Tariffs on Chinese products would directly affect the profits of the Berlin start-up - although it claims that it can switch quickly if necessary.
An Enpal spokesman emphasized that this dependency is also an industry-wide problem.
Leaving the solar association – 1KOMMA5° calls for less instead of more subsidies
How serious this problem is within the German solar industry was recently shown by the withdrawal of 1KOMMA5° from the industry association BSW Solarenergie.
“The company is thereby distancing itself from the BSW’s line with regard to the demands for new, aggressive subsidies – in particular the demand for a so-called “production bonus” for selected manufacturers in the private customer segment,” said 1KOMMA5°.
Such subsidies would only help individual companies “in the short term”, but the sustainable development of a solar module industry would be slowed down – monopolies could even arise for individual manufacturers.
There is already a rejection of such subsidies at the EU level.
The background was an appeal from the federal association to the Bundestag.
In December, BSW appealed to send a clear signal to the German solar industry “that the establishment and expansion of solar factories in Germany will be financially supported for the duration of their stay.”
Otherwise there is a risk of job losses.
“Anyone who makes a longer pit stop now is out of the race,” explained the managing director of BSW-Solar, Carsten Körnig.
Resilience tenders are intended to strengthen competition in the solar industry
Instead of a resilience bonus for end customers, 1KOMMA5°, Enpal and other solar companies are calling for the introduction of so-called resilience tenders.
These would offer a “simple lever” to specifically promote larger roof systems.
This strengthens competition and takes account of the increase in costs.
When
IPPEN
asked how exactly these tenders should be structured, an Enpal spokesman referred to the European Net Zero Industry Act.
This includes a bundle of measures and, among other things, provides for a broader positioning of the sustainable energy industry.
For example, he wants to ensure that sustainability and resilience criteria are given greater consideration when awarding public contracts and at auctions.
The NZIA is currently before the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, which must approve it.
In the end, such a measure also needs time to come into force.
Until then, as Enpal writes, there will be a high level of planning uncertainty in Germany as a business location.
The company is considering “significantly accelerating the internationalization of its own business.”
The start-up wants to scale back investments in the expansion of renewable energies in Germany.
Enpal would thus join the ranks of other German companies that are currently turning their backs on the Federal Republic, including Bosch and Miele.