Solar Installed System Cost Analysis

NLR analyzes the total costs associated with installing photovoltaic (PV) systems for residential rooftop, commercial rooftop, and utility-scale ground-mount systems. This work has grown to include cost models for solar-plus-storage systems.

NLR’s PV cost benchmarking work uses a bottom-up approach. First, analysts create a set of steps required for system installation. Next, they calculate the hardware, equipment, direct labor, and indirect labor costs associated with each step for a given location and system design. Finally, they add in costs associated with permitting, inspection, interconnection, and other overhead.

NLR’s bottom-up cost modeling methodology, shown here for residential PV systems, considers a wide set of factors and many interactions between them.

These bottom-up models capture the impacts of economies of scale, efficiency, location, system design, and company structure on total costs. NLR uses these insights to develop roadmaps for future cost reductions and to provide context for cost variability observed in the market.