DOE's 'Tracking the Sun' report examines various drivers for PV system prices
BERKELEY, Calif. — The installed price of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S. continues to fall, according to the latest edition of “Tracking the Sun,” an annual PV cost tracking report produced by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Installed prices for residential and small nonresidential systems completed in 2014 were $0.40 per watt (W) lower, and prices for large non-residential systems were $0.70 per W lower, than in the prior year.
“This marked the fifth consecutive year of significant price reductions for distributed PV systems in the U.S.,” noted Galen Barbose of Berkeley Lab’s Electricity Markets and Policy Group, the report’s lead author.