Q1-2024 Solar Cost Benchmarks

Each year, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and its national laboratory partners develop cost benchmarks for U.S. solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. These benchmarks track progress toward reducing solar costs and guide R&D priorities.

Unlike typical studies that report only $/W, SETO uses intrinsic units (e.g., $/m² for mounting structures) to better capture how technology improvements such as module efficiency would impact system costs. This allows flexible modeling where inputs can vary significantly to assess cost sensitivity.

Costs are reported in two ways:

Minimum Sustainable Price (MSP): Long term, financially viable price under stable market conditions.

Modeled Market Price (MMP): Actual market price, influenced by short term distortions such as tariffs or subsidies.

Three national labs collect cost data from industry stakeholders, ensuring no duplication in outreach to stakeholders. Data reflects real transactions (primarily from Q1) and is weighted based on the number of sources per cost element.

The PV System Cost Model (PVSCM) divides total installed system cost into eight categories:

1. Module (PV)
2. Inverter
3. Energy Storage System (ESS)
4. Structural BOS (SBOS)
5. Electrical BOS (EBOS)
6. Fieldwork
7. Office work
8. Other (developer/EPC costs)

The first five are hardware costs, while the last three are soft costs.

Each category includes fixed and variable cost components, where “size” depends on context (e.g., manufacturing capacity for modules vs. system capacity for installation costs). Variable costs are expressed using appropriate intrinsic units.

The model reflects the owner’s upfront overnight capital cost, excluding tax credits. Tariffs and subsidies are treated as temporary market distortions affecting MMP but not MSP.

PVSCM is implemented in Excel, where cost elements are aggregated into total system cost. Additional sheets handle unit conversions and operation & maintenance (O&M), with O&M costs levelized over the system’s lifetime.