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Title: Detailed cost estimate of reference residential photovoltaic designs

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5877686· OSTI ID:5877686

This report presents estimated installation costs for four reference residential photovoltaic designs. Installation cost estimates ranged from $1.28 to $2.12/W/sub p/ for arrays installed by union labor (4.1 to 6.07 kW/sub p/-systems), and from $1.22 to $1.83 W/sub p/ for non-union installations. Standoff mounting was found to increase costs from $1.63/W/sub p/ to $2.12/W/sub p/ for a representative case, whereas 25 kWh of battery storage capacity increased installation costs from $1.44/W/sub p/ to $2.08/W/sub p/. Overall system costs (union-based were $6000 to $7000 for a 4.1 kW array in the northeast, to approx. $9000 for a 6.07 kW/sub p/ array in the southwest. This range of installation costs, approx. $1 to $2/W/sub p/ (in 1980 dollars), is representative of current installation costs for residential PV systems. Any future cost reductions are likely to be small and can be accomplished only by optimization of mounting techniques, module efficiencies, and module reliability in toto.

Research Organization:
E/E '2000 Engineering, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (USA); Uhl and Lopez Engineers, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (USA); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
5877686
Report Number(s):
SAND-83-0504; ON: DE83016780
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English