Rooftop Solar Rebounds As Energy Resilience Returns To Spotlight

Households, businesses, and policymakers have all had one common target on the radar: energy resilience. However, it had been on the back burner in recent years amid geostrategic uncertainty, trade tensions, supply chain realignments, and other factors. And with the recent war in the Middle East, the topic of energy resilience is once again in the limelight.

In this context, the rooftop segment, which reached an all-time high following the European gas crisis, has been under pressure over the past 2 years in mature markets like Europe and the US. Nevertheless, the residential and commercial segments remain key pillars of the solar sector and its wider deployment.

Acknowledging its importance, TaiyangNews has been taking a close look at the rooftop segment each year as part of its series of virtual conferences covering critical topics and technologies in the solar sector. The TaiyangNews Smart Solar for Homes & Businesses 2026 Virtual Conference, held on March 25, 2026, is the latest in the series.

Smarter Solar

Energy supply through rooftop solar, battery storage integration, and intelligent energy management is widely viewed as an economic solution to lowering energy bills, but is increasingly also seen as a strategic asset that reassures citizens and businesses that their ‘lights don’t go out’, says Michael Schmela, Managing Director of TaiyangNews, in his opening comments.

If incentivized appropriately, self-consumption solar PV systems can also operate in a grid-friendly manner, supporting a more distributed and resilient energy system. In addition, bi-directional charging and smart energy management enable optimized use of both locally generated and imported power, and system owners can increasingly generate additional revenues by selling electricity or flexibility services through aggregators.

A Positive Outlook for DG

Speaking on the demand side, especially on the European front, Juan Monge, Principal Analyst, Distributed Solar, Europe at leading market research firm Wood Mackenzie, said that Europe’s energy markets are once again reacting to tensions in the Middle East. As fuel and natural gas prices rise, electricity costs are increasing. The effect is now visible in solar demand trends. Wood Mackenzie has revised its near-term distributed solar outlook upwards in response.

The 2026-2028 outlook for distributed solar in Europe has been raised by about 14 GW DC. Residential installations are driving the increase, with growth of around 20%. But unlike 2022, the response is not immediate. However, the market is reacting more slowly and unevenly across regions, emphasized Monge. He also pointed out the difference, as it lies in how Europe’s energy system has evolved. Renewables now account for a larger share of the mix, and grid resilience has improved.

As a result, dependence on natural gas has eased. While gas still shapes electricity pricing, its influence is weaker than before. Current price increases are estimated at about half of what was seen in 2022. In turn, the demand response is expected to reach only about 1/3^rd of the previous surge, according to Monge. He also presented how the demand signals play out differently across segments and countries.

A Silver-Free, Copper-Based Module

AIKO represented the module part of the rooftop segment. Fabrice Chappaz, WEU Solution Manager at AIKO, termed the company’s All Back Contact (ABC) technology as a shift from isolated cell improvements toward a fully integrated module architecture.

Copper-based metallization for both fingers and copper-based interconnection ribbons were the 2 key features highlighted at the conference, addressing material cost and supply challenges. The solution is obviously aimed at addressing the ongoing volatility in silver pricing and supply. Copper is positioned as a more cost-effective, stable, and scalable alternative.

Beyond cost considerations, copper’s higher ductility improves mechanical flexibility and reduces crack propagation under stress. The rear-side copper interconnection reduces stress concentration points and helps mitigate microcrack formation. Mechanical and lifecycle testing presented indicate that backside copper contacts maintain electrical continuity under stress, supporting improved long-term reliability. The module is designed with multiple electrically active sections. This allows the current to continue flowing even when one section is affected by shading or other defects.

It also features Invisible Ribbon technology, in which interconnection ribbons are placed on the back and remain hidden from the front surface, as well as a zero-gap cell layout. Together, these features enhance light capture and contribute an additional 15-20 W power gain, according to Chappaz. While the company outlined a broader product portfolio covering residential, commercial & industrial (C&I), and utility-scale applications, the product in the spotlight was a 72-cell dual-glass configuration with a rated power of 670 W and 24.8% efficiency.

All-in-One Energy Platform

Mark Guan, RESS Global Sales Director at Hoymiles, presented the company’s latest HiOne series ‘All-in-One' residential solar-plus-storage solutions, launched in Europe and slated for launch in Australia soon. The solution combines an inverter and energy management system (EMS) on a single platform.

The product allows configuring the home backup preferences for the energy sources – PV, storage, chargers, and DG. Needless to say, PV gets top priority to maximize self-consumption. These solutions have applications in whole-home backup and microgrids, among others.

HiOne features a power output range of 5 kW to 20 kW for 3-phase and up to 3.6 kW for 1-phase supply. However, the storage capacity can be scaled up to 64 kWh by connecting these units in parallel. Highlighting the ease of installation, Guan emphasizes that its design enables mounting and installation by 2 people. The stackable battery units, cable connection, and plug-in smart meter can be installed within 15 minutes. On the safety front, HiOne features 5-layer battery protection.

Solar + Storage

JA Solar presented highlights from its 2 business streams – PV modules and storage. On the module side, Xiao Qin, Head of JA Solar’s Module Product Management Department, presented the company’s latest DeepBlue 5.0 module series. The product platform validates the company’s efforts on the commercial front. It features polyfinger and edge passivation technologies implemented at the cell level, along with the latest module-level design features, including multi-cut cells, gapless flexible interconnection (GFI), and a full-screen (FS) layout.

Qin highlighted that the series uses silicon wafers with a high minority-charge-carrier lifetime and lower oxygen concentration. Featuring edge sealing with butyl-based adhesives, this module loses only ~3% of its rated power output even after a stress test 3 times the IEC testing standards, according to Qin. One of the product’s special features is a triangular junction box (JB) layout that distributes mechanical load across the module’s rear glass, eliminating stress hotspots associated with drilled JB openings of a typical half-cell module.

The company offers this product series for all mainstream applications, including utility, C&I, and residential. In the context of rooftop solar, the company offers a module with a 470 W to 480 W power rating and dimensions of 1,762 × 1,134 mm for lightweight rooftop applications. For the C&I segment, it offers a module measuring 1,961 × 1,134 mm with a power output of 530 W to 550 W.

Complementing its PV product portfolio, Ryan Zhao, JA Solar’s Head of the Solutions Department, Energy Storage Business Unit, presented the company’s All-in-One ‘Solar + Storage + X’ solution. “The ‘X’ here represents everything,” says Zhao, pointing essentially to all non-solar power sources such as wind, hydro, hydrogen, and so on. He presented 8 application use cases in which solar + storage form the heart of the system.

Pro-Prosumer Solutions

Empowering homes was the theme of the talk from Goodwe’s European Technical Product Director, Jonas Ding. He emphasized that the current energy landscape is marked by geopolitical uncertainty, volatile electricity prices, and grid reliability concerns, which are pushing more and more households to become ‘prosumers’. The key areas of focus in this context are achieving autonomy, resilience, and better control over overall energy usage.

What this boils down to at the system level is to combine different elements of a home energy system, such as PV, storage, heat pumps, EV charging, and grid interaction, into a unified setup. The main goals of such systems are to maximize self-consumption, enable peak shaving, and leverage dynamic tariffs. In operation, for example, the system prioritizes self-consumption, stores surplus in batteries, and exports to, or extracts from, the grid based on tariffs. This is where AI comes into play, helping manage charging, discharging, and even electricity trading. Indeed, these are the integral elements of the GoodWe’s home energy management system (HEMS).

On the hardware side, Ding presented an all-in-one storage solution with scalable battery capacities of 5, 6, 8, and 9 kWh. The product is available in single or 3-phase variants. The overall design focused on ease of installation and operation. “It requires around 10 minutes from unpacking to operation,” Ding claims.

He also presented a case study showing that a 10 kW PV system paired with a 16 kWh battery achieved ~92% short-term forecast accuracy. The system optimized the energy management, resulting in daily electricity costs of €7.23 and savings of about €17.

Increasing Integration of Solar PV

Ali Arfa, data manager at EUPD Research, presented how the mature rooftop solar markets in Europe, especially Germany, are evolving. One of the main shifts he highlighted was how residential energy systems are moving from simple PV installations to more integrated solutions that combine PV, storage, energy management, EV charging, and heat pumps. This reflects a broader transition from standalone products to fully integrated systems offered as a single package, Arfa underscored.

From a prosumer perspective, the main drivers remain quite practical. Among the top drivers are increasing self-consumption, reducing electricity costs, the need for backup power during outages, and rising household electricity demand and prices. There are also barriers: many users still see storage systems as economically unviable, mainly due to high upfront costs. There is also a tendency to delay purchases due to the expectation that prices may fall further.

Installers broadly echo this shift toward self-consumption and storage-led system configurations, rather than standalone PV. The rising demand for electric vehicles is also driving greater adoption of residential PV. On the other hand, installers face barriers such as bureaucratic processes, complex regulations, and the gradual phasing out of feed-in tariffs. While issues like labor shortages and supply chain disruptions are no longer roadblocks, they continue to have a small impact.

Arfa also presented details of emerging trends in the segment, including compact storage systems, growing role of HEMS, plug-in PV, and system integration – the latter essentially means a ‘one-stop-shop’.

Panel Discussion

The panel discussion, moderated by TaiyangNews Managing Director Michael Schmela, explored how residential and C&I rooftop solar can advance in mature markets. It covered a range of topics around residential solar, storage, and market dynamics.

In response to the question of whether there has been a recent surge in order intake, Guan from Hoymiles and Qin from JA Solar emphasized increased demand in Europe. However, this varies from market to market depending on individual countries’ reliance on oil and gas from the Middle East, according to EUPD’s Arfa, with Asia at the top of the list. “This is a first and foremost déjà vu of the Ukrainian conflict, but less for Europe and more for Asia,” says Arfa.

Policy and regulatory uncertainty were also highlighted as important factors influencing demand, particularly in the residential segment. This has led to a ‘wait-and-see’ approach among some buyers, according to EUPD’s Arfa. On the positive side, supportive policies such as the UK’s new plug-in solar regulations and VDE’s latest safety regulation to ease plug-in systems are also helping, according to Wood Mackenzie’s Monge. JA Solar, reflecting its representation in the conference, is also focusing on expanding into the storage segment. The company is increasingly focusing on offering an integrated energy solution for the DG segment of the solar industry.

On the product side, while integrated all-in-one platforms are increasingly preferred, future development is expected to shift toward software, intelligence, and user experience rather than hardware alone. In this context, AI-driven energy management systems are already gaining increased acceptance among prosumers and are already in use, according to the panelists.

TaiyangNews continues its 2026 conference series with this focused edition on Next-Generation PV Technology. Join us on April 22, 2026, for an in-depth discussion on perovskite tandem solar technology, its commercialization roadmap, and the key technical challenges toward large-scale deployment. Registrations are now open here.