The increases in import taxes quality export from China on photovoltaic modules added to high dollar impacted the price of photovoltaic kits in the national market.
Several distributors have already passed on this increase in costs in the final price of their products this December.
Despite this, professionals in the sector highlight that the increase should not diminish the attractiveness of the systems, since the payback (return time to recover the investment) should increase from one to three months for the end consumer.
Price increase
In its social networks, BelEnergy reported that it had to readjust the prices of its products by around 8%. “This measure is due to important factors in the economic scenario and the photovoltaic market,” the company reported.
A Serrana Solar also reported that it had to readjust the costs of its equipment this month. The average increase was around 8%, according to Rodrigo Serrana, the company's director.
“Due to the significant increase in the dollar in the last 30 days and the increase in taxes in China on exports, we were forced to readjust prices. We always seek to minimize these adjustments, but we need to ensure the sustainability of operations and maintain quality in distribution,” he said.
In addition to the increase announced by companies in December, many of them also confirmed to the report of Canal Solar, which, when looking to 2025, already knows that it will have to make other adjustments, due to the elimination of ex-tariffs and the introduction of the 25% import tax rate.
The same also occurred with the Bluesun, which increased costs by around 10%. Roberto Caurim, CEO of the company, highlights that contrary to what many integrators think, photovoltaic kit distributors usually operate with very low profit margins, generally around 5% at best.
“We had the 25% increase in import tariffs announced by the Lula government, the 4% increase in the export tax on panels by the Chinese government and the rise in the dollar, which rose almost 5% in December alone,” he commented.
With tight margins, Caurim stressed that companies are unable to hold prices. “If we were in a scenario like last year, with higher margins, it would still be possible to absorb part of these costs. However, in the current scenario, there is no other option than to pass on the costs. Unfortunately, this is an inevitable scenario,” he revealed.
Should the solar sector be concerned?
Despite the increases seen in December, executives interviewed by distributors interviewed by Canal Solar were adamant that rising costs should not be an obstacle to continued growth in the solar energy sector in 2025.
The optimism arises because the price of photovoltaic kits on the national market has fallen significantly in recent years. “Currently, the payback of a photovoltaic system installed in a residence, for example, continues to be much lower than it was before the publication of Law 14.300, in January 2022.”, highlights Nuno Verças, CEO of Aldo Solar.
The same reasoning was also defended by other companies. Serrana Solar, for example, was categorical in saying that even with current increases, the solar kits sold on the market will still be very attractive.
“Over the last two years, we have seen a drastic reduction in the price of panels, which helps to keep the payback competitive. Even with the increase in the dollar and taxes, the return on investment continues to be faster than it was before Law 14.300/2022”, commented Serrana, reinforcing Verças’ view.
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