Benchmarking Non-Hardware Balance of System (Soft) Costs for U.S. Photovoltaic Systems Using a Data-Driven Analysis from PV Installer Survey Results

Ardani, Kristen; Barbose, Galen; Margolis, Robert; Wiser, Ryan; Feldman, David; Ong, Sean

doi:10.2172/1059144

Cited by 30 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Overall, these cross-city results are consistent with and add to previous attempts to quantify the national or regional average impact of permitting on installed costs and development times (e.g., Sunrun, 2011;Ardani et al, 2012;Clean Power Finance, 2012). In particular, they demonstrate that national or regional average impacts can mask the moresubstantial impacts that occur at a local level across individual cities.…”

Section: Conclusion and Further Worksupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Building on the Sierra Club effort, Vote Solar created a Solar Permit Map, with additional city-level permitting data contributed by users (Vote Solar, 2013). 7 A National Renewable Energy Laboratory survey of U.S. PV installers reported that residential PV permitting, inspection, and interconnection (PII) labor costs averaged $0.13/W; with an assumed average permitting fee of $0.09/W, total PII costs averaged $0.22/W (Ardani et al, 2012). This compares with a median total installed price of $6.10/W for PV systems less than 10 kW in size and installed in 2011 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of city-level permitting processes on residential photovoltaic installation prices and development times: An empirical analysis of solar systems in California cities

Dong

Wiser

2013

Energy Policy

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Business process or "soft" costs account for well over 50% of the installed price of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States, so understanding these costs is crucial for identifying PV cost-reduction opportunities. Among these costs are those imposed by city-level permitting processes, which may add both expense and time to the PV development process. Building on previous research, this study evaluates the effect of city-level permitting processes on the installed price of residential PV systems and on the time required to develop and install those systems. The study uses a unique dataset from the U.S. Department of Energy's Rooftop Solar Challenge Program, which includes city-level permitting process "scores," plus data from the California Solar Initiative and the U.S. Census. Econometric methods are used to quantify the price and development-time effects of city-level permitting processes on more than 3,000 PV installations across 44 California cities in 2011. Results indicate that city-level permitting processes have a substantial and statistically significant effect on average installation prices and project development times. The results suggest that cities with the most favorable (i.e., highest-scoring) permitting practices can reduce average residential PV prices by $0.27-$0.77/W (4%-12% of median PV prices in California) compared with cities with the most onerous (i.e., lowest-scoring) permitting practices, depending on the regression model used. Though the empirical models for development times are less robust, results suggest that the most streamlined permitting practices may shorten development times by around 24 days on average (25% of the median development time). These findings illustrate the potential price and development-time benefits of streamlining local permitting procedures for PV systems.

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Section: Conclusion and Further Worksupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of city-level permitting processes on residential photovoltaic installation prices and development times: An empirical analysis of solar systems in California cities

Dong

Wiser

2013

Energy Policy

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“…Differences in total system prices among countries can thus be attributed primarily to soft costs. Indeed, installer surveys in Germany, Australia, and Japan have confirmed that soft costs in those countries, across all major soft cost elements, are substantially lower than in the United States , Ardani et al 2012, Friedman et al 2014, RMI and GTRI 2014. Several time-and-motion studies have further homed-in on installation costs, identifying specific aspects of installation practices in Germany and Australia that enable lower labor costs in those countries than in the United States GTRI 2013, 2014).…”

Section: Comparison Of Us Median Installed Prices To Other Internatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Barbose

Darghouth

Millstein

et al. 2016

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Executive SummaryNow in its ninth edition, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)'s Tracking the Sun report series is dedicated to summarizing trends in the installed price of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States. The present report focuses on residential and non-residential systems installed through year-end 2015, with preliminary trends for the first half of 2016. An accompanying LBNL report, Utility-Scale Solar, addresses trends in the utility-scale sector. This year's report incorporates a number of important changes and enhancements from prior editions. Among those changes, LBNL has made available a public data file containing all non-confidential project-level data underlying the analysis in this report. 1 Installed pricing trends presented within this report derive primarily from project-level data reported to state agencies and utilities that administer PV incentive programs, solar renewable energy credit (SREC) registration systems, or interconnection processes. Refer to the text box to the right for several key notes about these data. In total, data were collected and cleaned for more than 820,000 individual PV systems, representing 85% of U.S. residential and non-residential PV systems installed cumulatively through 2015 and 82% of systems installed in 2015. The analysis in this report is based on a subset of this sample, consisting of roughly 450,000 systems with available installed price data.Key findings from this year's report are as follows, with all numerical results denoted in real 2015 dollars and direct current (DC) Watts (W):Installed Prices Continued to Decline through 2015 and into 2016. National median installed prices in 2015 declined year-over-year by $0.2/W (5%) for residential systems, by $0.3/W (7%) for non-residential systems ≤500 kW, and by $0.3/W (9%) for non-residential systems >500 kW. This continues the steady downward trend in PV system pricing, though the pace of decline is somewhat slower than in recent years. Preliminary data for the first half of 2016 show a mixed picture, but generally suggest that installed prices have continued to fall at a modest pace, at least within a number of key states and market segments. The slowing rate of decline may partly reflect a number of confounding factors could be offsetting underlying cost reductions. These include, for example, the increasing prevalence of solar loans with origination fees embedded in the installed price, greater use of module-level power electronics, module import tariffs, and a shift in the underlying geographical mix of the data sample towards more-expensive states (e.g., California). Recent Installed Price Reductions Key Points on the Data in This ReportThe installed price data analyzed in this report:• Represent the up-front price paid by the PV system owner, prior to receipt of incentives• Are self-reported by PV installers and host customers• Differ from the underlying cost borne by the developer and installer• Are historical and therefore may not be indicative of price...

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“…Since the assessment of U.S. permitting time requirements in 2010 (Ardani et al, 2012), substantial efforts have been made across many U.S. jurisdictions to streamline processes and make reporting requirements more transparent. Among the initiatives are online databases such as www.solarpermit.org, the U.S. Department of Energy's "Rooftop Solar Challenge" with best practices shared in an online resource center, and state legislation limiting permit fees in Vermont, Colorado, and California.…”

Section: Figure 8: Installation Labor Hours and Costs In The United Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We devised a bottom-up cost model for U.S. systems using hardware cost estimates for 2011 (GTM Research and SEIA, 2012;Goodrich et al, 2012) and soft cost benchmarks for 2010 (Ardani et al, 2012). Figure 10 summarizes the identified sources for the price difference of $3.19/W between U.S. and German residential systems installed in 2011.…”

Section: Figure 8: Installation Labor Hours and Costs In The United Smentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of residential PV system price differences between the United States and Germany

Seel

Barbose

Wiser

2013

2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

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addition we are indebted to the helpful comments of our anonymous reviewers. Of course, any remaining errors or omissions are our own. iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARYResidential photovoltaic (PV) systems were twice as expensive in the United States as in Germany (median of $5.29/W vs. $2.59/W) in 2012. This price discrepancy stems primarily from differences in non-hardware or "soft" costs between the two countries, which can only in part be explained by differences in cumulative market size and associated learning. A survey of German PV installers was deployed to collect granular data on PV soft costs in Germany, and the results are compared to those of a similar survey of U.S. PV installers. Non-module hardware costs and all analyzed soft costs are lower in Germany, especially for customer acquisition, installation labor, and profit/overhead costs, but also for expenses related to permitting, interconnection, and inspection procedures. Additional costs occur in the United States due to state and local sales taxes, smaller average system sizes, and longer project-development times.To reduce the identified additional costs of residential PV systems, the United States could introduce policies that enable a robust and lasting market while minimizing market fragmentation. Regularly declining incentives offering a transparent and certain value proposition-combined with simple interconnection, permitting, and inspection requirements-might help accelerate PV cost reductions in the United States. HIGHLIGHTS• Residential PV system prices are twice as high in the USA than in Germany in 2012.• Different cumulative national PV market sizes explain only 35% of price gap.• Installer surveys show that price differences stem from non-module and soft costs.• Largest cost differences stem from customer acquisition and installation labor.• Incentives in the US are less effective in driving and following cost reductions.v

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Benchmarking Non-Hardware Balance of System (Soft) Costs for U.S. Photovoltaic Systems Using a Data-Driven Analysis from PV Installer Survey Results

Cited by 30 publications

References 3 publications

The impact of city-level permitting processes on residential photovoltaic installation prices and development times: An empirical analysis of solar systems in California cities

The impact of city-level permitting processes on residential photovoltaic installation prices and development times: An empirical analysis of solar systems in California cities

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

An analysis of residential PV system price differences between the United States and Germany

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