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How do we get around labor being the primary cost eater when that has (is) the most expensive factor, depending on where you live? I want labor to be paid, and

• philipkglass 2y ago
  Build small numbers of large ground mounted solar arrays instead of large numbers of small rooftop mounted solar arrays. Then soft costs (permitting, certification) are much lower, the overall cost per unit of electricity is much lower, and labor gets paid much better. This National Renewable Energy Laboratory page has a cost comparison of utility scale solar farms with rooftop systems: https://www.nrel.gov/solar/market-research-analysis/solar-installed-system-cost.html https://www.nrel.gov/solar/market-research-analysis/solar-in... If you look at the orange portion of the bar for each year (installation labor), you'll see that labor gets paid about 50% more for utility scale farms than for rooftop systems. As of 2023 it's about $0.24 per watt on utility scale systems, $0.18 per watt on rooftops. But the complete rooftop system is much more expensive ($2.70 per watt vs. $1.20 for a large solar farm). The solar farm with one axis tracking will also produce more energy per installed watt over the course of a year. As a result, the cost per kilowatt hour generated from a rooftop solar array is multiples higher than from a utility scale solar farm in the same climate.
  • efields 2y ago
    Thanks! I like this answer.