Bringing down system costs is a significant concern for PV industry participants. Though the price of a PV module, at approximately half the system cost, remains of major importance, the cost of BOS (balance-of-systems) components can not be divorced from this discussion, nor can the cost of component failure be left for the end user to sort out. Customer dissatisfaction also has a cost, and though dissatisfaction with system performance can often be attributed to the failure of a BOS component, the solar electric industry pays the price for the frustration that comes with the failure of an expensive purchase.
This report provides a discussion and overview of grid-connected BOS along with an analysis of real grid-connected system prices broken out by system size that is useful for strategic planning purposes on several levels. An overview of grid-connected residential and commercial markets along with short forecast is provided. System prices, based on U.S. data, are forecast through 2007. State databases and primary survey effort were used to prepare the information in this chapter. Over 20,000 data points, using a combination of these sources, were examined in the analysis. The system information examined in this chapter is particular to grid-connected systems. Specifically, grid-connected system prices in California and New Jersey were assessed, though, information was gathered from members of the distribution channel throughout the United States, and in Europe, particularly Germany. However, the focus of this section is grid-connected system prices in the United States. Information
from Europe is anecdotal. For the purpose of the analysis, systems have been broken into the following categories:
- <5-kWp
- 5-10-kWp
- 10-25-kWp
- 30-50-kWp
- 50-75-kWp
- 75-100-kWp
- 100-500-kWp
- 500+-kWp
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