Photovoltaic panel prices continue to rise

Wholesale prices of photovoltaic panels rose again this month on the spot market pvXchange.com. Panel price increases occurred across all panel categories, with an average increase of 0.5 euro cents per watt.

The upward trend is reflected in PV panel prices from January 2025 to the present.

"We will see whether this is a long-term trend or whether the price increase will stop again next month. However, there continues to be a shortage of new panel supply from manufacturers in China, especially in the higher power classes. Therefore, customers are increasingly forced to look for alternatives on our spot market, " comments Martin Schachinger, founder and managing director of pvXchange.com, on the current market development.

Panel prices on the European spot exchange pvXchangec.com have risen by 4% since January in the high power panel category. A far greater price increase of up to 7% applies to standalone N-type panels. The table below describes the current trend in wholesale panel prices:

What is driving the price increase?
The reasons for the current rise in panel prices throughout the supply chain can be found, among other things, in growing domestic demand in China. Earlier this year, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced changes to its PV guidelines, the first of which is due to come into effect on 30 April.

The NDRC is adjusting the setup of the current subsidy mechanism in China, where fixed feed-in-tariff (FIT) support is ending, with a new market-based support mechanism modelled on Germany to be in place from June. The new support for photovoltaics is intended to be more favourable to the grid, due to a preference for self-consumption, a reduction in the feed-in tariffs for surplus electricity produced and fed into the grid, and finally an adjustment to market electricity prices. The relevant legislative change will then come into force in China at the beginning of June.

As existing PV projects will maintain their guaranteed feed-in tariffs (FITs) in the future, installers and investors are rushing to complete their projects on time by the end of May. Accordingly, the panel shortage is particularly pronounced in the residential and business rooftop PV segment, as panel deliveries for large ground-mounted systems are contracted long in advance.

According to analysts at EnergyTrend, due to extreme demand in China, solar cell production in March was up 22% from the previous month. However, when it comes to inverter prices and energy storage systems, there has been stagnation this year. In some cases, for example, the storage capacity of battery modules or the range of functions of energy management systems are increasing, which will lead to a better price-performance ratio, even with a slight upward adjustment of the item price.

Impact on end users
"Overall, the increase in the price of PV panels is unlikely to have a significant impact on the price of complete PV systems for end-users. Unlike in the past, the share of solar panels in the total cost of power plants is too small compared to the share currently accounted for by energy storage systems or installation work," adds Schachinger.

Due to the lower demand at present, installation capacity is likely to be available in sufficient quantities so that interested end customers should have ideal conditions for good bid prices for new PV plants and short lead times.