Lessons from Australia: How to Reduce US Solar PV Costs through Installation Labor Effic

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In 2013, the United States installed more solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity than either Germany or Australia for the first time ever. (the U.S. has triple their combined population, so arguably this should have happened long ago…). With the decline of feed-in tariffs and other incentives in Germany, it is likely that the U.S. will continue to outpace that country in new PV installations. However, the U.S. continues to lag behind global PV leaders Germany and Australia in another important category: prices for residential systems installations. As of Q2 2013, the average installed residential system price was $4.93/W compared to Germany’s $2.21/W and Australia’s $2.56/W. That needs to change.

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solarix

Re: Lessons from Australia: How to Reduce US Solar PV Costs through Installation Labor E

The big difference is that in Germany, an installer can go out an do the install - then file a simple registration form that the customer has a solar system. Here in the US, we have to spend more time doing the paperwork, proving to the building departments that the solar system won't crash the roof or violate the Code, etc. I say, let's remove the albatrosses, and allow licensed installers do their job. Inspect us - fine. Lose the government minders. It would cut my costs 20%, save a couple years on the typical payback time, and double sales. Think of it - in an effort to save 1 in a 100 from some sort of contractor error, the building departments are restricting solar implementation by half.