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There's a nice pretty chart on the DOE's soft costs website. http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/reducing-non-hardware-costs http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/reducing
by diafygi 11y ago
There's a nice pretty chart on the DOE's soft costs website.
http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/reducing-non-hardware-costs http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/reducing-non-hardware-costs
It's from 2010, so stuff has shifted since then, but ~50% soft costs, 15% installation labor, 15% non-module hardware, and 20% module. The DOE's really been focused on soft costs (customer acquisition, overhead, engineering, financing, etc.). We recently got a big grant to drive down the cost of getting a customer's bill/usage history for the initial quote, which can impact the overall cost by 5-10%.
- pkaye 11y agoWow these soft costs seem so huge. I was hoping technological innovation would bring down the overall cost of solar but now it looks like that accounts for only 1/3 of the costs. I hope the soft costs can be brought down significantly over time.
- drited 11y agoThere is scope for optimism as the Germans are much more efficient on soft costs. Several studies have looked at why the gulf exists between U.S and German costs so people are focused on narrowing the gap. I think it'll happen, maybe from late 2016 when the industry gets super competitive for business as demand drops due to the Itc expiry.
- brianwawok 11y agoIt should come down with time, no? I can look in my phonebook and find 500 people to install new electrical wire in my house. I doubt I can find that many people that know how to install solar.. but given a few years, it could/should eventually become fairly common knowledge.
- discardorama 11y agoThere's something wrong when "customer acquisition" is your biggest expense....
- rch 11y agoCustomer acquisition costs should go down as the overall value proposition improves. Good PR on efficiency and domestic manufacturing helps, as will availability of Tesla's Powerwall (10 kWh battery for $3,500).