NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Growth in the U.S. solar industry will slow in 2023, while some European and Asian markets are poised to pick up, SolarEdge Chief Financial Officer Ronen Faier said on Thursday.
Faier told investors at a Goldman Sachs conference in Miami, Florida that high prices and regulatory uncertainties will limit U.S. solar expansion, although the emerging Inflation Relief Act (IRA) is expected to boost clean energy industries like solar over the long term. .
“We believe that the IRA, which has very much stabilized the ITC (solar tax credit) benefit over the next few years, doesn’t put much pressure on anyone to do anything when interest rates are relatively high,” Faier said.
Faier, whose company is based in Herzliya, Israel, said the war in Ukraine has driven up oil and gas prices and boosted opportunities in Europe, where countries such as Germany offer generous incentives for solar power.
Some solar markets in Europe, particularly German-speaking countries and the UK, could grow by more than 100% year-on-year, he said. In the US, this growth is expected to be around 15%, he added.
Taiwan, Japan and other Asian countries are also expected to accelerate the expansion of solar energy installations and usage.
Reporting by Laila Kearney Editing by Tomasz Janowski
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