Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2010, when Spain was cutting support for solar power. Spanish renewables policy has changed several times since, and solar costs have fallen sharply, so its advice against entering the sector reflects 2010 only.
Some time ago, we were among the first to write about the renewable energy business worldwide, because of its profitability and because it would be a good business idea, one of the businesses of the future. That hasn’t changed. Renewable energy is something the planet needs, although the way to get into this business may well have changed.
We wrote about the returns from setting up a field of solar panels, a project the government would finance in large part or even entirely. That has changed. Subsidies are being withdrawn, perhaps only temporarily, but I’m sure it’s because of the strong demand the sector is seeing.
We also wrote about selling energy. The price that would supposedly be paid for the energy you sell has now been lowered, above all for solar power.
Right now, for any entrepreneur thinking of going into the renewable energy sector, we would all but advise against it, in any of the forms we discussed some time ago.
Still, renewable energy will remain a market with a future, since over time consumers will practically be obliged to install solar panels for their own use. That leaves us one way to take part in this business.
That way is through investments in, or stakes in, companies that are innovating in renewables. This is the current outlook for renewable energy in Spain: completely uncertain and unknown since the subsidies for these projects stopped, with not even a return guaranteed.
Even so, it’s a matter of waiting to see how this market turns out. In the meantime, here are some other business ideas that we hope you’ll find useful.
Further reading
- Business ideas in home services
- Business ideas in services for companies
- Business ideas in leisure and tourism
- How to lose your fear of starting a business
- Why new businesses fail
Featured image: LBM1948, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
