U.S. Solar PV System Cost Reduction

The US Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently released the report titled "Tracking the Sun", pointing out that since 2008, the cost of photovoltaic modules has been declining sharply, and the installation cost of US solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has also been drastically increased. decline. The average installation cost of residential and commercial PV systems decreased by 11% to 14% in 2011 compared to 2010. In the first half of 2012, the California area also fell by 3% to 7% compared to 2011. The report also focused on the impact of the region, size, and type on installation costs, and concluded that the weakening of financial incentives is a limiting factor in the further development of the PV system. The report provides policy makers and industry with detailed and reliable reference standards in order to better promote the development of the solar photovoltaic power generation industry in the United States.

The report divides the installation costs of PV systems into two major categories, namely module costs and non-module costs. The latter mainly includes inverters, manual installation costs, marketing costs, management costs, system balance costs, etc. It is closely related to the so-called "business process" costs or "soft" costs. The report shows that since 2011, the non-module cost of the PV system has dropped significantly. Royn Weerser, one of the authors of the report and the Berkeley Laboratory's Environmental and Energy Technology Department, believes that "the decline in non-module costs is of great significance because the relevant policies adopted by the federal, state and local governments have a great impact on them. The policy objective is to eliminate barriers that affect market development to accelerate its development.” Between 1998 and 2001, the average cost of non-modules for residential and commercial PV systems fell by about 30%, but in recent years the rate of decline was lower The module cost still occupies a considerable proportion of the installation cost of the PV system. The emphasis on reducing this ratio is the key to continuously reducing the installation cost of the PV system.

In 2011, the average installation cost for residential and small commercial PV systems with an installed capacity of less than 10 kilowatts was US$6.1 per watt; the large commercial systems with installed capacity of over 100 kilowatts were US$4.9 per watt; utilities with installed capacity of more than 2,000 kilowatts The scale of the PV system is 3.4 US dollars per watt. Another author of the report, Gorn Babse of the Berkeley Lab, emphasized that these data are very important and they provide a reliable reference for the installation costs of PV systems in recent years. Over time, its cost will continue to drop, and PV systems currently being sold will have lower installation costs.

Based on the above data in the report and in conjunction with relevant data on the installation costs of PV systems in other major international markets, the report proposes to implement a large-scale development plan to further reduce the installation cost of the US PV system, but also pointed out that the installation cost of the PV system can be reduced. Other factors.

The study focused on analyzing the differences in installation costs of PV systems under different conditions, different scales, and different installation types. In 2011, the average installation cost of PV systems with installed capacity of less than 10 kilowatts in each US state was between US$4.9 and US$7.6 per watt. Installation costs in different states vary widely.

PV system installation costs also show important features of economies of scale. The average installed cost of systems with installed capacity of less than 2 kW in 2011 was US$7.7 per watt, while that of large commercial systems with installed capacity of more than 1,000 kW was US$4.5 per watt; the installed system cost of public utility scale recorded in 2011 was even lower. Most systems with an installed capacity of more than 10,000 kW are only worth 2.8 to 3.5 dollars per watt.

The report also found that in terms of installation costs for residential PV systems, new buildings are much lower than refurbished houses of the same size; the integrated PV system is much higher than the rack installation system.

The report pointed out that many U.S. state government agencies and utilities provide discounted or other cash incentives for residential and commercial PV systems. The incentives for such PV systems installed in 2011 have an average pre-tax value between $0.9 and $1.2 per watt (depending on the installed capacity). However, in the past 10 years, the intensity of this incentive has dropped significantly, with a drop of up to 80%. From 2010 to 2011, it has reduced about 21% to 43%.

In other states, the Renewable Energy Quota System (RPS) has been implemented, that is, to legally regulate the share of renewable energy power generation in the total power supply in order to promote the development of renewable energy. Power companies that use solar energy to deliver a certain amount of power to the grid can earn 1 unit of Solar Energy Certificates (SRECs). Some power companies need to purchase these certificates in order to meet the above requirements. However, in recent years, the price of solar energy permits has also dropped significantly.

The report believes that the weakening of financial incentives and the decline in the selling price of solar energy licenses will largely offset the decline in installation costs, which will be a limiting factor in the further development of the PV system.