dr_cosmo

Moore's Law for the Solar Market

Steve is the only guy that doesn't have a clue, I wonder if he buys stock in companies that 'promise' $2.95/W installs. Also, please differentiate between the economies of scale between commercial and residential installs. There's a big difference, my numbers are more realistic than anything Steve spews out.

Moore's Law for the Solar Market

rooferguy, thanx for the link: Cali: average installed cost $7.80
average incentive $2.30
= net installed cost/W $5.50
Wisconsin average installed cost $7.90
average incentive $2.10
= net installed cost/W $5.80
according to the Berkley study 2007. These are realistic #'s although the panel cost has come down, best street price I could find was $2.58/W, Evergreen ES-A-205. Keep in mind ALL BOS components and panels need to be listed for the incentives to qualify. Those 'priced to good to be true' panels are probably not listed. Steve, labor is typically 10% of system cost and it's not just slapping up a 200W panel, your average weekend warrior does not qualify as a 'listed p.v. installer, also necessary for qualifying for the incentives. Overhead, and regulatory compliance is another 29%
of the total cost, that could be factored into the labor cost. Road Runner, good info on the micro inverters, they will, indeed, reduce the labor and D.C. wiring costs.

Moore's Law for the Solar Market

Gentle people:

The $/W price installed is not solely dependent on the raw panel price. If FSLR is selling systems for $3/W installed they are probably including all incentives that vary from state to state and utility to utility + the 30% Federal tax credit. Also FSLR makes panels, therefore: volume discount. In Wisconsin, the incentive is $2.25/D.C. rated W installed x 1.2. So 5 KW system @ $8/W installed = $40K - ($13.5 K) incentives = $26.5 K - ($7.95K Fed tax credit) = $18,555 total system cost ($3.71/W). That's where the $/W cost is lowered, incentives, not necessarily the price of panels.