Australia a Key Player in Residential Solar Market
The U.S. continues to lag behind global photovoltaic (PV) leaders Germany and Australia in prices for residential installations, according to “Lessons from Australia: Reducing Solar PV Costs Through Installation Labor Efficiency,” a recent report from Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). With solar module costs relatively the same everywhere, total soft costs—including customer acquisition, installation labor, permitting, inspection and interconnection—now comprise approximately 70% of the total installed price for a U.S. residential PV system, making soft costs a prime opportunity for drastic cost reductions.
After examining Germany’s installation labor practices and releasing the results in a December 2013 study, RMI and GTRI traveled to Australia to analyze the varying PV installation processes there. Each provided an opportunity to draw a comparison between installation costs and methods; when combined with the U.S., the three countries comprise more than 39% of total global distributed PV generation.