Solar Power World

  • Home
  • Top Solar Contractors
  • Articles
    • Most Recent Posts
    • News
      • Latest News Items
      • SPW State News Hub
      • IRA coverage
      • Solar tariffs
      • U.S. manufacturing updates
    • Featured
      • Latest Feature Stories
      • Contractor’s Corner
      • Trends in Solar
      • The Solar Explorer
  • Policy
    • The Solar Policy Scoop
    • IRA Coverage
  • Markets
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Community Solar
    • Utility
  • Products
    • Winners of SPW’s 2024 Top Products
    • Batteries and Storage
    • Electric Vehicle (EV)
    • Inverters
      • U.S. solar inverter manufacturers
    • Racking and Mounting
      • U.S. solar mounting manufacturers
    • Software
    • Solar Panels
      • U.S. solar panel manufacturers
  • Resources
    • About SPW
    • Digital Issues
    • Event Coverage
    • Podcasts
    • Product Manufacturing Locations
      • U.S. solar inverter manufacturers
      • U.S. solar mounting manufacturers
      • U.S. solar panel manufacturers
    • Solar Classrooms
    • Suppliers
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Prices continue to drop in residential and commercial solar, reports Berkeley Lab

By Kathie Zipp | August 25, 2016

Share

Preliminary data for the first six months of 2016 suggest that prices have continued to fall within most states and market segments, according to a report from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  In particular, installed prices in 2015 declined by $0.20-per-watt (W) or 5% year-over-year for residential systems, by $0.30/W (7%) for smaller non-residential systems.

berkeley

The report, Tracking the Sun IX, focuses on installed pricing trends in the distributed PV market, including both residential and non-residential sectors. “This marked the sixth consecutive year of significant price reductions for distributed PV systems in the U.S.,” notes Galen Barbose of Berkeley Lab’s Electricity Markets and Policy Group, the lead author of Tracking the Sun. The continued decline is especially noteworthy given the relatively stable price of PV modules since 2012. The report attributes recent system price declines, instead, to reductions in other hardware costs and to solar “soft” costs. The latter includes such things as marketing and customer acquisition, system design, installation labor, and permitting and inspections.

The report also highlights the tremendous variability in PV system pricing. For example, among residential systems installed in 2015, 20 percent sold for less than $3.30/W, while another 20 percent sold for more than $5.00/W. As Berkeley Lab’s Naïm Darghouth explains, “This variability reflects a host of factors: differences in system design and component selection, market and regulatory conditions, and installer characteristics, to name a few.”

Looking ahead, the improving economics of solar power demonstrated in this report, coupled with the extension of the 30% federal investment tax credit (ITC) through 2019, should drive a continued expansion in all sectors of the U.S. solar market over the next few years.

Learn more in a free webinar September 7, 2016.

.

 

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

Related Articles Read More >

Gov. Gianforte vetoes Montana community solar legislation
Verogy and NJR Clean Energy Ventures break ground on Connecticut community solar project
Tigo Energy MLPE now compatible with sonnen inverter-battery systems
New West Virginia utility rate proposal would retroactively reduce solar customer net-metering rates
Solar Power World Digital Edition
Check in with the nation's leading solar construction magazine today.
 
“the-informed-solar-installer”
“solar
“spw
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for Solar Power Professionals.

Contractor’s Corner Podcast

“solar
Solar Power World
  • Top Solar Contractors
  • Solar Articles
  • Windpower Engineering & Development
  • Leadership
  • About/Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising
  • WTWH Media

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Solar Power World

  • Home
  • Top Solar Contractors
  • Articles
    • Most Recent Posts
    • News
      • Latest News Items
      • SPW State News Hub
      • IRA coverage
      • Solar tariffs
      • U.S. manufacturing updates
    • Featured
      • Latest Feature Stories
      • Contractor’s Corner
      • Trends in Solar
      • The Solar Explorer
  • Policy
    • The Solar Policy Scoop
    • IRA Coverage
  • Markets
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Community Solar
    • Utility
  • Products
    • Winners of SPW’s 2024 Top Products
    • Batteries and Storage
    • Electric Vehicle (EV)
    • Inverters
      • U.S. solar inverter manufacturers
    • Racking and Mounting
      • U.S. solar mounting manufacturers
    • Software
    • Solar Panels
      • U.S. solar panel manufacturers
  • Resources
    • About SPW
    • Digital Issues
    • Event Coverage
    • Podcasts
    • Product Manufacturing Locations
      • U.S. solar inverter manufacturers
      • U.S. solar mounting manufacturers
      • U.S. solar panel manufacturers
    • Solar Classrooms
    • Suppliers
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe