“…Economic barriers refer to the perception that PV projects are not viable because of capital and maintenance costs, grid connection costs, extended payback periods, rates of return, and the levelized costs of electricity. 13,14,18,21,23–26 Whereas hardware costs—module prices in particular—have declined significantly, non-hardware, or “soft” costs—such as installation, permitting, inspection, interconnection, and financing costs—has declined much more slowly. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) which conducts benchmarking surveys on the cost of PV systems in the United States, reported that in 2017 the total system cost was USD $2.8/W, and soft costs accounted for 68% of the total cost.…”