U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2016

Abstract

energy.gov/sunshot NREL/PR-6A20-67142(1) NREL has been modeling U.S. photovoltaic (PV) system costs since 2009. This year, our report benchmarks costs of U.S. solar PV for residential, commercial, and utilityscale systems built in the first quarter of 2016 (Q1 2016). Costs are represented from the perspective of the developer/installer; thus all hardware costs represent the price at which components are purchased by the developer/installer. Importantly, the benchmark this year also represents the sales price paid to the installer; therefore, it includes profit in the cost of the hardware and the profit the installer/developer receives, as a separate cost category. However, it does not include any additional net profit, such as a developer fee or price gross-up, which are common in the marketplace. We adopt this approach owing to the wide variation in developer profits in all three sectors, where project pricing is highly dependent on region and project specifics such as local retail electricity rate structures, local rebate and incentive structures, competitive environment, and overall project/deal structures (2) Our methodology includes bottom-up accounting for all system and projectdevelopment costs incurred when installing residential, commercial, and utility-scale systems, and it models the capital costs for such systems. In general, we attempt to model typical installation techniques and business operations from an installed-cost perspective, and our benchmarks are national averages of installed capacities, weighted by state. The residential benchmark is further averaged across installer and integrator business models, weighted by market share. All benchmarks assume non-union construction labor, although union labor cases are considered for utility-scale systems.(3) This report was produced in conjunction with several related

Tracking the Sun IX: The Installed Price of Residential and Non-Residential Photovoltaic Systems in the United States

“…• PV System Cost Benchmarks developed by NREL researchers are based on bottom-up engineering models of the overnight capital cost of residential, commercial, and utility-scale systems, with the most recent report (Fu et al 2016) focused on systems built in Q1 2016.…”

“…As shown in Figure 9, median module efficiencies within the data sample have risen substantially over time. Based on modeled PV cost relationships developed by Fu et al (2016), the increase in median module efficiency since 2010 corresponds to roughly a $0.15/W reduction in residential 9 Figure 8 suggests that non-module costs spiked in 2009; however, this is likely just an artifact of the manner in which non-module costs are calculated and the lag (highlighted in the previous footnote) between module and system prices. 10 These values are derived from quarterly component-level cost benchmarks, using a population-weighted average for microinverter and string inverter pricing.…”

“…On the one hand, increased module efficiency reduces area-related balance-of-systems (BOS) costs. Cost modeling by Fu et al (2016) estimate that, for example, an increase in module efficiency from 16% to 17% would reduce residential system costs by roughly $0.05/W. On the other hand, highefficiency modules may be considerably more expensive than standard efficiency modules.…”

“…Based again on cost modeling by Fu et al (2016), the increase in residential system sizes since 2010 would be expected to yield roughly a $0.2/W reduction in non-module costs, above and beyond the effects of increased module efficiencies, representing 10% of total non-module cost reductions over that period. This is generally consistent with analysis presented later in this report comparing installed prices across residential systems of varying size.…”

Economic Model Predictive and Feedback Control of a Smart Grid Prosumer Node

“…The decreasing cost of photovoltaic (PV) [1] and storage [2] technologies is accelerating the transition towards the smart grid of the future [3]. Prosumer nodes will become fundamental actors of the grid and dedicated energy management systems (EMSs) will be needed for them.…”