Last year, 2022, was pivotal for the energy industry as both energy demand and energy prices continued to climb, historic legislation was enacted, and PV technology broadened its deployment beyond electricity generation and into storage and energy management. 

Many of the same factors that created the energy crisis in 2021 were still present in 2022. Global geopolitical conflicts continued to threaten traditional energy delivery, putting a spotlight on the vulnerability of the fossil fuel and natural gas industries. In many regions, public utilities struggled to keep up with increased heating and cooling demands resulting from extreme weather patterns, leading to planned and unplanned power outages. 

But despite, or because of these headwinds, the solar industry in 2022 continued to flourish. Ambitious Net Zero emissions goals and monumental government incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 paved the way for renewable energy to take its place on the world stage as the best way to secure a greener future for our planet. The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced that in 2022 renewable energy became the 2^nd most popular energy source in the US, providing over 20% of total supply and replacing coal^[1].

As a key player in the global solar industry, SolarEdge has also experienced significant growth in 2022. By the end of the year, over 2.78 million homes around the world were equipped with SolarEdge PV systems, and over 50% of Fortune 100 companies were using our systems on at least one of their sites.  Overall, the carbon-free energy generated globally by our DC optimized systems prevents the creation of 31 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions each year – equivalent to taking 6.7 million gasoline powered cars off the road, permanently.

Looking at the energy landscape for the years to come, it is clear to us that clean energy solutions need to expand and evolve to meet the challenges of a growing population and increased electricity demand, where utilities are challenged to cope with growth of renewable energy fed into the grids. Governments are increasingly adopting Time of Use and dynamic self-tariffs, exemplified by NEM 3.0 in California and new regulations for electricity meters in Belgium, Sweden and other countries. Their goal is to relieve pressure on the grid and to encourage more solar energy self-consumption and storage.

We are therefore continuing to plan and launch end-to-end energy ecosystems to maximize the self-consumption of onsite solar energy production. For example, we are significantly expanding our offerings of storage solutions for residential and commercial use, based on our scalable battery cell technology and manufacturing expertise.

More efficient solar energy generation and storage is just the beginning. A key to maximizing self-consumption is energy management and optimization. Leveraging our deep software expertise, we have developed state-of-the-art adaptive algorithms to optimize the production, storage and usage of energy, taking into account time-of-use tariffs, energy and scheduling requirements for major loads, weather patterns and other factors. This will allow homeowners and businesses to automatically control and optimize energy loads for EV chargers, heating and cooling devices, household appliances and more. It will also allow business owners to implement data-driven analytics and AI-based energy management to minimize electricity costs and hedge energy uncertainty.

In addition to our advanced solutions, SolarEdge as a company continues to make progress on our path to enhance our corporate ESG practices. In 2022, we implemented new measurements for energy savings and for water reusage in our manufacturing sites. Three of our global sites now have our solar energy systems installed on their rooftops, and three additional sites are planned for similar installations in 2023-2024. In addition, 88% of the waste our sites generated in 2022 was either recycled or recovered to energy. Our family of employees includes more than 150 women managers, and we are making progress towards our targets of increasing women representation in our workforce, with emphasis on managerial and R&D roles.

This Sustainability Report details the many ways in which SolarEdge is delivering on its promise to power the future of energy through our products, people, and business practices. As you read about our sustainability goals and recent performance, I hope you can experience some of the excitement and commitment of the SolarEdge team as we work together to create a cleaner, greener planet. 

Thank you for your continued support. 

Zvi Lando
Chief Executive Officer