Climate Changed

Trump Tariffs Help Investors See Rooftop Solar's Bright Side

  • Tariffs more painful for panel makers than installers
  • Falling prices helpful to buyers like Sunrun and Vivint
Workers install solar panels on the roof of a home in Lafayette, California.Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Residential-solar companies have been on a tear this year, thanks in part to renewable-energy critic Donald Trump.

Shares of panel makers and the rooftop developers that buy their equipment largely traded in a pack in recent years as clean power emerged as a new part of the energy industry. But the president’s much-feared solar tariffs in January prompted a clarifying realization by investors: not all solar companies are alike.