SHS, larger, higher-cost products of wattage 11+Wp, recorded sales of 563,000 units in the first half of 2020. This is a 32% decrease compared to the second half of 2019, where a new sales record was reached at 830,000 units, and a 17% reduction compared to the first half of 2019.
The 50-100 Wp systems are the top-selling SHS category with 202,000 units, seeing a minimal 9% decrease compared to the volumes of the second half of 2019 and similar sales to the first half of the same year. Companies anecdotally suggest that the comparatively low drop in sales within this category may be a result of wealthier families purchasing products in the initial stages of the pandemic to provide a back up to the grid during the lockdown.
21-49 Wp systems show the next largest sales volume with 198,000 units sold between January and June 2020, a 28% decrease in sales compared to the previous reporting round and an 18% reduction compared to the same months of 2019.
The 11-20 Wp segment sold nearly 134,000 units, seeing a 37% reduction in volume compared to the second half of 2019 and a 23% decrease compared to the first half of 2019.
The smallest sales recorded in the SHS space (30,000 units) remain in the 100+ Wp category. These experienced the largest relative reduction in this segment with a 75% plunge in sales compared to the last reporting period and a 53% decrease in comparison with the first half of 2019. This is largely due to almost zero sales of these systems in East Asia & Pacific, which had seen far higher sales in previous years.
Approximately 84% of all SHS have been sold through PAYGo financing between January and June 2020, a larger share compared to 65% in the second half of 2019 and 76% of the first half of 2019. This indicates the importance of the product financing business model for customers accessing larger, more expensive off-grid products that many would be unable to afford in a single upfront payment. However, the PAYGo percentage has been influenced by the large decreases experienced in East Asia & Pacific countries where last round a large number of 50+ Wp systems were sold on a cash basis through government tenders.
