The residential solar industry, after a decade of rapid growth, is starting to look less like an energy business and more like something else entirely: the housing market.
For advocates of solar power, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Just as rising interest rates hurt consumers’ ability to purchase homes, they also limit their ability to finance the purchase and installation of rooftop solar systems.
That parallel is not accidental. Rooftop solar isn’t just an energy product. It is a long-term financial investment tied to homeownership, credit and how long someone expects to stay in their house. And like housing, it depends heavily on financing conditions and public policy to remain affordable.
As a result, demand has dropped in…