New study reveals drivers for low priced solar energy systems
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2016 - Researchers from the Department
of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have published
a new study that reveals the key market and system drivers for low-priced
solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The study focuses on systems ranging in size
from 1 to 15 kilowatts, and uses a variety of statistical methods to analyze a
dataset of over 40,000 PV systems in 15 U.S. states.
Despite substantial recent cost reductions, installed prices
for small-scale PV systems in the U.S. continue to show wide pricing
differences depending on the location of the installation, the installer, the
components of the system, and other factors, says Berkeley Lab’s Ryan Wiser, a
co-author of the study.
Greg Nemet, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the
lead author of the report, says “We find that low-priced PV systems, those
cheaper than 90 percent of other systems nationally, are more prevalent in
local markets with fewer active installers, and are more likely to be installed
by companies that have more county-level experience installing PV systems. Not
surprisingly, low-priced PV systems are also associated with a variety of
system characteristics. For example, such systems are more likely to be
customer owned (vs. leased), be larger in size, and use lower-efficiency
modules and are less likely to use tracking, building-integrated PV modules,
micro-inverters and batteries.”
The research also finds that policy incentives can affect
the prevalence of low-priced systems, though those influences are nuanced and
require additional analysis to fully verify.
“Widespread adoption of PV will depend, in part, on the
economics of those systems,” explains Wiser. “By studying the attributes of
low-priced PV systems, we can begin to identify what can be done to facilitate
those conditions and thereby drive down PV system prices nationwide.”
The report, Characteristics of
Low-Priced Solar Photovoltaic Systems in the United States, was funded by the U.S. Department of
Energy SunShot Initiative.
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