2024 was a year of transformation for Zonnefabriek

At the beginning of the new year, it's a good time to look at the performance of the past period and the developments that we can expect in 2025. Commercial director Joris Vogel is the right person to talk to. How was 2024 for Zonnefabriek?

Sales of solar panels plummet

“Last year was difficult, that much is clear,” he says immediately. “The demand for solar panels was already declining sharply, but after the announcement that the net metering scheme would disappear, it collapsed even further. The absolute low point was in May; we saw that the number of applications for new systems had reached a very low level.” (Incidentally: the abolition of the net metering scheme came despite the promises made before the elections by a number of parties (PVV, BBB) to leave it intact... just goes to show what election promises are worth sometimes!)

Joris Vogel, sales director at Zonnefabriek

Must have been stressful surely, when everything went so badly? “Well, it was clear that we had to make major adjustments,” Joris admits, “we immediately realised that we couldn't wait for the market to pick up again by itself. That is why we had to make the decision to say goodbye to a considerable number of employees, which is always very sad, especially for a company like Zonnefabriek where the bond between people is very strong.” In the meantime, one solar panel installer after another went bankrupt and times were also difficult for wholesalers and manufacturers.

Expanded product portfolio 

“But it also became clear that we should no longer focus solely on solar panels,” Joris continues. “Zonnefabriek already had a lot of experience with products such as home batteries and charging stations and that came in handy. Due to the abolition of the net metering scheme, it's becoming increasingly important to look at the smart use of energy and those products are interesting for that, but also things like heat pump boilers and air conditioners. We looked for products that could be a nice addition to our customers' existing systems and have now added them to the product portfolio.”

In addition to solar panels, Zonnefabriek now also focuses on other products such as air-to-air heat pumps (air conditioners)

So, is that going well? “Yes, that's going according to plan,” Joris assures us, “of course it does require a lot of work: we had to send our installers to new training courses, for example, but in addition, the entire organization had to adapt, from purchasing and process planning to marketing, sales and service. Fortunately, that has all gone quite well so far.”

Interesting possibilities with batteries

And what about those home battery storage systems, are they going to be the next big thing? “There is certainly a lot of demand for home batteries from the market. Many people are mainly interested in the possibility of using such a battery for trading on the electricity market and for the imbalance market. But there is also an increasing demand for back-up functionalities or a combination of the two. And in addition, we expect that most people with solar panels will want a home battery after 2027 to store their own electricity. We are already seeing that, in the run-up to 2027, more and more hybrid inverters are being sold instead of ‘normal’ PV inverters.”

So: 2025 will be another bumper year for Zonnefabriek? “Well, it won’t be as good as 2023 was,” says Joris, tempering the enthusiasm. “But the signs are promising. December 2024 was our best month for sales since March. And there's clearly been an upward trend since May. Also, the C&I (commercial and industrial) market is still running steadily. We're not there yet, but if we play it right, 2025 could still be a very good year.”

Hopeful words from our commercial man, we love to hear them. We wish ourselves, and all of you of course, a “more than fine 2025”!

SMA batteries with a hybrid inverter