The number of private individuals that place solar panels has fallen sharply last year. The uncertainty about the introduction of the digital electricity meter makes consumers doubt.

Last year less solar panels were added in Europe than the year before. A total of 190 megawatts of new solar installations were installed, compared to 193 megawatts (MW) the year before. It is the first time since 2012 that there is no growth. This appears from figures until the end of November of the Flemish Energy Agency, which extrapolated the Organization for Renewable Energy (ODE) for the last month of 2018.

The vast majority of solar panels (87% in 2018) appeared on the roofs of houses in recent years. And just the private individuals let it down in the second half of last year. While they laid 178 MW panels in 2017, it was 166 MW in 2018, a decrease of 7 percent.

The increase at the companies, from 15 to 24 MW installed, could not compensate for the decline. Their enthusiasm is related to the increase in the number of green power certificates per kilowatt hour (kW) of electricity generated. In contrast to small installations (less than 10 kW) there are still certificates for larger (above 10 kW), which are usually installed by companies.

We can’t pretend that results obtained by Belgium are wonder. The solar power is not only more expensive than the regular counterpart, it requires more financing and yields no reliability.