Distributor Q&A: Is Solar Dead? SRS Distribution Weighs In

The Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law earlier this year, resulted in multiple cuts to clean energy tax provisions, putting roofing contractors, distributors and manufacturers in a bind.

Among the credits ending is Section 25D, an uncapped 30% non-refundable tax credit of eligible costs of purchasing and installing solar panels, solar water heaters, battery storage technology and geothermal heat pumps for residential projects. This will terminate for expenditures after Dec. 31, 2025.

Meanwhile, other credits are scheduled to end June 30, 2026, while others, like the Section 48E clean electricity investment credit, will be terminated for any facility placed in service after Dec. 31, 2027.

Despite these credits going away, solar still provides a viable vertical for contractors. Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year for the first time on record, according to a report from energy think tank Ember, showing the world could be weaning off polluting energy sources.

SRS Distribution is among the major roofing distributors involved in solar. RSP spoke with Bill Eitenmiller, director of sales – solar for SRS Distribution, and Jess Cress, branch manager at SRS Distribution’s Athena, Ga., location about the shifting solar landscape.

Editor’s Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity

RSP: What are the most frequent questions you’re hearing from customers?

Bill Eitenmiller (BE): It’s mostly regarding the tax credit going away, and “Is this industry dead?”

I don’t really view the industry as dead. I don’t think solar is a niche product. I think this is a sign of the industry maturing, and that’s a good thing. Incentives create all kinds of market distortions and if you take out the incentives, it really just allows the market to grow organically.

Jess Cress (JC): It’s been incredibly eye-opening to see the amount of roofing companies that are interested. Just the questions about solar and how to get involved.

RSP: What were the biggest changes to energy tax credits to be aware of?

BE: [Section 25D] was the tax credit that gave any homeowner, whether it was a cash, loan or third-party own lease, straight up 30% off their energy system, which included HVAC and some other things. And in some categories, even the roofing components … So that’s gone.

However, the [Section 48E] business tax credit was maintained. So that allowed the third-party owned PPAs and leases to still pass through that additional, that 30% tax savings. So the industry is just shifting.

RSP: How are these cuts impacting the roof solar industry?

BE: We’re seeing … a mad dash rush to get installs operated and turned on by year end so homeowners can qualify. But then, going into next year, the industry will shift. And it’s going to be more probably 85% to 90% TPO — third-party owned systems — and then 10% to 15% cash loan.

RELATED: November 2025 Product Focus: Solar

RSP: So are nationwide solar sales expected to decline?

BE: There’s some markets where you can’t do a third-party-owned system, so those markets we’re expecting close to a 50% downturn in solar installs.

With that being said, there’s still a lot of other levers we can pull there because we can help get that cost down on equipment, and just still make it a positive ROI for a homeowner.

RSP: What about local or state energy credits?

BE: There’s still a ton of local-level and state rebates outside of federal stuff. Like Oregon, they have very aggressive programs and storage going into next year that are saving homeowners anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 per project.

RSP: How is SRS Distribution adjusting its strategy?

BE: If the old pitch, pre-2025, for solar was go solar and get 30% back, reduce your tax liability, you get a fast payback boosted by ROI … the new pitch for 2025 and beyond is to take control of your power. A battery plus a roof equals energy independence, locking in your power costs for the next 25 years, say goodbye to these peak rates and surprise bills, stay in power during outages, and increase your property value.

RSP: Are tariffs playing a role in solar sales?

BE: There are main areas of concern: one is the domestic content product. So making sure we’re aligning our line card with those products that have domestic content.

The other thing of concern is Fiat compliance. So foreign entity of concern, raw materials and panels, making sure materials that are being sourced are not coming from a country that’s on that Fiat list.

The cost is going up generally across the board, I want to say, 30% to 40% increase in panel pricing in [the fall season].

RSP: Does the ROI on solar help offset these increases?

BE: Well, a Fiat compliant import might be $100 a square, right? So domestic content does have a significant increase in the material pricing. But from a system size as a whole, it’s probably increasing the whole system 10%. You start tacking on the panels, the racking, the inverters, and the batteries. So, not a huge change there, and especially when you’re extrapolating that over a 10–15-year payoff period on the ROI for the energy production.

RSP: How can roofing contractors take advantage of solar?

BE: The conservative number is that for every solar install, about 10%, you get a new roof put on. They’ll go up then they’ll see a roof that’s eight, nine years old. Well, from an insurance standpoint, they’re going to require or recommend that a new roof gets put on.

It’s going to equate to about 625,000 new roofs in 2026 as a direct result of solar sales … and that number will continue to climb year in and year out.

JC: I think the message is diversification is great … just expanding their knowledge and diversifying their business to be able to offer it as a solution for homeowners and business owners alike.

RSP: Broadly speaking, is there still an opportunity for distributors and contractors to sell solar?

BE: Solar is super-fast to deploy. It’s cost-effective. It’s decentralized and it’s scalable. So, if we start thinking about solar as energy — and the markets generally kind of point in this direction — anything that has to do with energy production is getting a lot of funding. There’s a lot of capital being expended into the system for those type of opportunities.