Today Woodlawn published the results of a multi-client project examining solar installation cost. We found U.S. residential PV dealers spent an average of $3.69 per Watt to perform installations. This includes all of the dealers’ installation-related costs. (Note: this is different from the price of residential solar to the consumer.)
In addition, we found:
- Dealer gross margins averaged only 20% (using a standard set of costs)
- By matching low cost dealers in each expense category, dealers could install for $2.13 to $2.59 per Watt
- Use of microinverters appears to decrease design costs by about $0.06 per Watt
The full report includes items such as:
- Dealer comparisons on key installation cost metrics (including average and range)
- Variations in cost as they relate to geography, scale, and microinverter use
- Installation schedules, including times to perform each step in the installation process
- 19 strategies for reducing installation costs
- What module, inverter, and finance vendors ought to do to help dealers reduce installation costs and distinguish themselves from their competition
You can view an extract here.
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