U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmarks: Q1 2021
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Based on our bottom-up modeling, the Q1 2021 PV and energy storage cost benchmarks are: $$\$$2.65$ per watt DC (WDC) (or $$\$$3.05$/WAC) for residential PV systems, 1.56/WDC (or $$\$$1.79$/WAC) for commercial rooftop PV systems, $$\$$1.64$/WDC (or $$\$$1.88$/WAC) for commercial ground-mount PV systems, $$\$$0.83$/WDC (or $$\$$1.13$/WAC) for fixed-tilt utility-scale PV systems, $$\$$0.89$/WDC (or $$\$$1.20$/WAC) for one-axis-tracking utility-scale PV systems, $$\$$30,326$$-$$\$$33,618$ for a 7.15-kWDC residential PV system with 5 kW/12.5 kWh nameplate of storage, $$\$$2.04$ - $$\$$2.10$ million for a 1-MWDC commercial ground-mount PV system colocated with 600 kW/2.4 MWhusable of storage, $$\$$166$ - $$\$$167$ million for a 100-MWDC one-axis tracker PV system colocated with 60 MW/240 MWhusable of storage. Between 2020 and 2021, there were 3.3% ($$\$$0.0$9/W), 10.7% ($$\$$0.19$/W), and 12.3% ($$\$$0.13$/W) reductions (in 2020 USD) in the residential, commercial rooftop, and utility-scale (one-axis) PV system cost benchmarks respectively. Balance of system (BOS) costs have either increased or remained flat across sectors, year-on-year, unlike in previous benchmark reports, which generally have reported declining BOS costs. The increase in BOS cost has been offset by a 17% reduction in module cost. Overall, modeled PV installed costs across the three sectors have declined compared to our Q1 2020 system costs.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1829460
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-7A40-80694; MainId:77478; UUID:f9874af4-18a4-4385-90c8-b0dfcd30c66e; MainAdminID:63176
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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