US should follow Australia’s lead in slashing PV soft costs - RMI

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

The US is lagging behind the likes of Australia and Germany in pushing down the labour costs associated with residential PV installation, a Rocky Mountain Institute study has revealed.

Following a fact-finding tour to Australia, RMI and Georgia Tech Research Institute researchers found the ‘soft’ costs of residential PV installations were US$2.19 per watt cheaper than in the US.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

Under its SunShot initiative, the US Department of Energy is seeking to cut the cost of residential solar to US$1.50 by 2020. The study is intended to aid that target by finding ways of driving down the non-hardware costs of PV installations.

The study found that the installed cost of PV in Australia and Germany are both similar at US$2.56/W and US$2.21/W respectively, and nearly half the comparable cost in the US of US$4.93/W.

Of these costs, so-called soft costs, which include labour, account for US$1.20 and US$0.97/W in Australia and Germany respectively, around 50% of the total. In the US, meanwhile, soft costs amount to US$3.38/W– up to 70% of the total.

Breaking this down, the study detailed the main cost differences between Australia and the US as:

  • Customer Acquisition – $0.26
  • Permitting, Inspection, and Interconnection – $0.05
  • Installation Labor – $0.26
  • Margin, Financing, and Other Costs – $1.62

The study said that one reason for the difference was the fact that from the start the Australian PV market has been driven by strong incentives, which in turn has prompted competition among installers, forcing them to ‘lean’ their processes.

One particularly telling statistic in the study backing this up is that Australian installers can install systems, without resort to advanced technologies or processes, in around two-thirds the time per kilowatt than US installers.

Based on further analysis, RMI and Georgia Tech concluded that by following some of the methods employed in Australia, US installers could cut 2.3 labour hours per kilowatt from installation times.

This would bring the US average labour time of 9.4 hours per kilowatt down to Australia’s 7.1, helping reduce installation costs, the study said.

Karen Crofton, a principal at RMI. “The observations gleaned from Australia will help U.S. solar providers streamline their installation processes—starting today. If it can be done in Australia and Germany, there is no reason it cannot be done in the US.”

GTRI Senior Research Engineer Joseph Goodman added: “Lessons learned from these leading markets in Germany and Australia are formative for advanced residential and commercial PV racking technologies currently under development.

“Ultimately, we are looking to not only leapfrog best-in-class US systems, but also surmount these global benchmarks—helping us reach the Department of Energy SunShot cost reduction targets.”

Read Next

October 14, 2025
Levanta Renewables will develop a 166MWp ground-mounted solar and storage project in the Visayas Islands as part of the Philippines’ Fourth Green Energy Auction. 
October 14, 2025
India has installed 4.9GW of residential rooftop solar capacity in the first half of 2025, according to a report by IEEFA and JMK Research.
October 14, 2025
Apple will support 650MW of projects as part of a major expansion of its renewable energy investments in Europe, aimed at reducing its carbon footprint.
October 13, 2025
France’s Engie and the UAE’s Masdar have been chosen to jointly develop a 1.5GW PV power plant near Abu Dhabi.
Premium
October 13, 2025
Brett Beattie of Castillo Engineering looks at some of the key land grading work that can make multimillion-dollar differences to projects.
October 13, 2025
Korean chemical production firm OCI Holdings has acquired a 65% stake in a Vietnamese solar wafer production plant, intending to export solar wafers to the US.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK