Investing in solar panel manufacture (pv)

MouldyOldDough

This would appear to be a fairly good / safe bet at the moment

Anyone invested in the solar industry prepared to provide any details ?

Also what is the current feed in tariff rate and is it due to increase ?

Daliah

Putting money into a single industry, and even into single companies, is generally not considered investing but gambling. In addition, if you don’t know the easily googleable basics of your desired industry, you should think twice whether you want to enter that gamble.

coyrls

MouldyOldDough said:

This would appear to be a fairly good / safe bet at the moment

Anyone invested in the solar industry prepared to provide any details ?

Also what is the current feed in tariff rate and is it due to increase ?

The bets have already been made and the price reflects the bets.

wmb194

MouldyOldDough said:

This would appear to be a fairly good / safe bet at the moment

Anyone invested in the solar industry prepared to provide any details ?

Also what is the current feed in tariff rate and is it due to increase ?

Most (all?) of the US and European ones were driven out of business through Chinese and Korean competition. I'd think twice before investing in any remaining ones, good luck investing in the Chinese ones and the Korean one I know of - Hyundai - is a big conglomerate so it wouldn't be a pure play.

To invest in this type of space closer to home you could look at the investment trust type companies listed in London that own solar and wind farms.

https://www.theaic.co.uk/investment-company-screener#?filtersSelectedValue=%7B%22aICSectorId%22:%7B%22id%22:%22LC00002387%22%7D%7D&page=1&perPage=50&sortField=legalName&sortOrder=asc&universeId=CEWWE$$ALL_5549

adindas

MouldyOldDough said:

This would appear to be a fairly good / safe bet at the moment

Anyone invested in the solar industry prepared to provide any details ?

Also what is the current feed in tariff rate and is it due to increase ?

People have been investing in ESG which include solar panel manufacturers for sometimes now. Oils and gas companies such as BP have been moving to that direction. China could always make it cheaper as they do not spend a lot of R&D just copied what technology exist and do mass production. Also cheaper cost of labour.

Safe bet ? Depends on cases by cases. There are reasonable number of start up companies doing ESG which have not made any profit, Keep losing money on day by day basis.

If you are aiming at particular companies, make sure, you understand the product,  you know how to value the company. Alternatively you could also invest in well known ETFs with ESG holdings. It is good when there are a lot of smart  money flowing to that investment.

Wildsound

coyrls said:

MouldyOldDough said:

This would appear to be a fairly good / safe bet at the moment

Anyone invested in the solar industry prepared to provide any details ?

Also what is the current feed in tariff rate and is it due to increase ?

The bets have already been made and the price reflects the bets.

The minute before Russian troops walked over the border into Ukraine was probably the best moment to be betting.

Type_45

Each solar panel uses two thirds of an ounce of silver, apparently. So unless that changes the price of silver will go up.

Voyager2002

MouldyOldDough said:

This would appear to be a fairly good / safe bet at the moment

Safe?

Ishares offer an ETF (ICLN I think) that provides exposure to this space, along with some generators. I used to hold the US version, and the price was extremely volatile. I sold most of my holding once it had increased by 250 per cent, but there have been big falls since.

All in all, this could be an interesting and exciting bet but not a safe one.

mark_cycling00

Remember that when you buy a share in a solar company you are also having to convince someone else to sell their share to you. Why would anyone sell such a share? 

Because it's reached peak price?
Because 18% inflation means very few people will be able to afford them anymore?

Because in Africa, China is building a military base next to the chinese owned port where the raw materials are exported via the Chinese built railway from the Chinese owned mines? 

jimjames

MouldyOldDough said:

Also what is the current feed in tariff rate and is it due to increase ?

The current feed in tariff rate depends on when you had your panels installed. It increases by RPI every year and potentially this year by somewhere near 15% so is likely to be over 70p for the original FIT tariff. However that scheme isn't running for new installations so pretty irrelevant if you're looking to get them now.

Millyonare

China today manufactures 70-95% of all solar panels sold worldwide and has crushed almost every other country on the planet (including the UK). The race to win solar ended years ago.