Dive Summary:
- According to two reports, the median installed price in 2011 for residential and commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) systems of less than 100kW has seen a cost reduction of 11 percent.
- Preliminary data from the first half of 2012 suggest that installed prices have continued to fall; despite the decrease, the United States still ranks just fourth in the global PV market behind Germany, Italy, and China.
- Costs associated with permitting, inspection, and interconnection - so-called "soft costs" - are a major reason why the PV market can't achieve it's goal cost.
From the article:
In Tracking the Sun, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory last month published their annual historical summary of the installed price of PV in the US from 1998 to 2011.
The analysis is based on data from more than 150,000 systems representing around 3,000MW, or 76% of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the United States through 2011. But there is much more growth potential to come, hints the report. ...
