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Suppliers have seen orders for solar panels and battery storage surge since the start of the Iran war, with annual energy bills predicted to rise by £332 in July 
Solar panel businesses are struggling to recruit installers fast enough to meet a “crazy” spike in demand due to Donald Trump’s war in Iran – and customers may have to join waiting lists as a result, The i Paper can reveal.
Interest in home upgrades that can help reduce energy bills has surged ever since the first crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But the US military action in Iran that began at the end of February has led to even greater growth in the renewable energy sector in the UK, business leaders say, with annual energy bills predicted to soar by £332 in July due to oil supply issues as a result of the conflict.
The Government has announced that households will soon be able to buy “plug-in” solar panels in shops. Ministers say the appliances will take money off energy bills and support Britain’s transition to net zero.
John Bloomfield, who runs Green Energy Solar in South Wales, said his company took £1.2m in new orders of solar panels and battery storage during March – more than double the £460,000 taken in February.
Although the company has seen steady growth since Bloomfield launched it four years ago, he has been shocked by the sudden surge.
“The energy inflation has got something to do with that,” he told The i Paper.
“Certainly, we weren’t anticipating it to double [our orders] in March – the first week I thought ‘this is a good start to the month’, then in the second week I thought ‘it’s going to be a really good month’, then suddenly I realised we were going to go to more than £1m.
“It ended up at £1.2m. Sales have just gone totally crazy.”
Bloomfield says the majority of his customers are private homeowners and small businesses who own their property.
He says they are not only worried about energy prices, but also the possibility of losing power entirely due to cuts.
He said: “I think a lot of people were freaked out by the first energy crisis, even without the Iran war people were worried about energy independence and reliability.
“People used to joke about power cuts but now people are really worried about it.
“Especially in the more rural parts, you can link it to climate change. There’s parts of Wales that have had some pretty bad storms and been without power for five days, and that’s terrified people.
“So they’re thinking ‘energy price crisis, five days without power or I could buy myself some solar panels and a battery and at least I’ve got protection’.”
Octopus Energy says sales of solar panels and heat pumps are up 50 per cent since the start of the Iran War, electricity supplier E.on says solar sales are up 62 per cent this month and Good Energy says they are up by 54 per cent.
Good Energy’s chief executive Nigel Pocklington said this reflects customers concerns about global instability and called for the government to go further on investment.
“The most effective way to bring bills down over the long term is to double-down on renewables, alongside storage and flexibility, so more of our power comes from predictable, home‑grown sources,” he said.
“Mandating solar on new homes is common sense and we should be putting solar on any building that can take it. That’s how we cut costs, strengthen energy security and give people real control over the energy they rely on every day.”
“At a time of global uncertainty, including instability in the Gulf, building homes that are fit for the future is one of the most practical steps we can take to protect the UK from future energy price shocks and reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels.”
The spike in demand comes as the UK struggles with a shortage of skills and labour in the renewable energy sector.
Jobs website Indeed has listings for ‘solar installer’ and ‘solar roofer’ all over the country with salaries between £25,000 and £50,000 depending on experience.
Solar Energy UK said only 7,000 workers were employed in the industry – but it expects this to soar to 60,000 by 2030.
Bloomfield said he plans to increase his workforce by 40 per cent as he expands his business, taking on two new installation teams of three people including an electrician, roofer and an apprentice.
The salary for electricians is up to £85,000 depending on experience but he says it can still be a “struggle” to find the right people.
“There is a skills shortage to a degree,” he added. “We don’t have a wide supply of CVs when we’re recruiting.”
The combination of a boom in orders and a lack of installers is likely to mean people are waiting longer than usual for their solar panels, Bloomfield said.
But he remains cautious about expanding too fast.
“We don’t want to double the business overnight over a war Donald Trump started,” he added.
Liz Cammack, non-executive director at Solar Energy UK, said she believes it is “too soon” to see the impact of the Iran war on the industry as a whole.
The MCS dashboard, which holds data for every certified installation in the UK since 2008, showed there was a 130 per cent increaese in residential installs in the first three months of 2023, compared with the same period in 2022.
Cammack said momentum has not dropped since then.
“When energy prices go up, so does the demand for solar and battery storage,” she added.
“It’s too soon to see the impact on official industry reporting figures, but there are strong indicators that the war in Iran is causing the same kind of spike we saw following the start of the Ukraine conflict.
“Some distributors are reporting that demand has doubled, and installers have really ramped up.
“People want to take control of their energy prices in times of volatility, by generating their own electricity and storing it in a battery to get maximum benefit.”
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