When you google for options to buy or rent a PV system and then you come across a website called “Deutsche Solarberatung” that is even designed in the colors of the German flag? Would you think that this is an independent comparison site for PV system suppliers? Or even an official information page on the subject of photovoltaics? Or maybe not a website that only has the goal of forwarding to a single provider?
Anyone who has landed on www.deutsche-solarberatung.net in the last few days and weeks may have thought of the first two things – and would only have noticed when looking at the imprint that it was the operator of the website is actually about the Berlin solar unicorn Enpal. On the home page, the marketing website promised that the “best provider in the region” could be found here in a “solar power comparison”. The specialist partners with more than 30,000 customers are known from renowned media such as FAZ, Spiegel Online, ARD or Handelsblatt. Not a word from Enpal itself.
Only when you click on the website of the alleged “Deutsche Solarberatung” does the trained eye notice that it could be the very well-known provider. Because the selection for the German federal state in which you want to buy a PV system is clearly the one that you can see in the inquiry tool at Enpal. Here is a comparison of the two websites:
The website has since been taken offline. With the help of the Wayback Machine, which documents websites and their changes over time, one can still see that www.deutsche-solarberatung.net was an advertorial of the Berlin company. Tracking links available to Trending Topics show that the advertising network Taboola, which is integrated into numerous media sites, was apparently used to try to lure users to the website.
“Internal Marketing Project”
“Enpal does not describe itself as a German solar consultancy and will not be listed under this title in the future either. The website was based on a time-limited internal marketing project that has no strategic relevance or will have it in the future and is therefore now offline again,” Enpal told Trending Topics about the cause.
Online marketing for providers of photovoltaic systems in Germany took on wild streaks last year as a result of the struggle for a booming market. As reported, 1Komma5° from Hamburg, one of the biggest Enpal rivals, can no longer call itself “market leader for climate protection technology” after a legal dispute. In addition, Andreas Pichlmair, managing director of the Munich company SolarHelden, has an ongoing dispute with Enpal, which also deals with Google ratings.
Time window for PV business
The business with PV systems in Germany is booming. According to Enpal, it made sales of 400 million euros in 2022 and is currently installing around 3,000 new systems a month. It was only this week that a purchase option for PV systems was launched in addition to the existing rental model. Enpal competitor Zolar has now discontinued the rental model because the changed interest and tax environment makes the purchase model significantly more attractive.
Since there is now a window of a few years to grab large market shares in the booming market, the marketing activities of various PV suppliers are intense. PV systems are installed on house roofs for 20 or more years. Once the roofs of many houses are full of PV and government subsidies run out, the time window will close again. That’s why it’s very important in the current phase to win as many customers as possible – and that always leads to new marketing projects.
1Komma5° is not allowed to call itself “market leader for climate protection technology“.