Residential solar installation costs drop by 50 cents, while utility-scale prices rise, NREL reports for Q1 2023.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has reported that in Q1 2023, the benchmark installation cost per watt for residential solar across the U.S. dropped by 50 cents compared to Q1 2022, while utility-scale solar’s average installation cost rose by 9 cents. NREL also noted that trends of high and volatile component prices and competition for limited supplies appeared to lessen in 2023 compared to 2022. The report also revealed that for utilities, lower prices for modules and logistics did not offset higher prices for aspects like inverters and labor. Nrel has introduced a new PV System Cost Model, which includes components “not previously benchmarked” for the first time, and is applying new analysis to the data collection to account for solar manufacturing tax incentives.