Solar For Every Californian Home

The May, California law instated a mandate that, starting in 2020, rooftop solar would be needed on all new residential construction in the state. Responses to the news were diverse, but most agreed that making solar a standard for new housing could provide vast economies of scale and help revive the state’s weakening residential market.

How this mandate could drive costs remains uncertain, and the focus has been primarily on its influence on home prices and the grid? Uniformly significant, however, is the effect the mandate could have on the equalized cost of energy (LCOE) for residential solar itself, not only in California but across the country, especially at a time when the market has been flagging. The Smart Electric Power Alliance’s (SEPA) newly released 2018 Utility Solar Market Snapshot reported the U.S. residential solar exchange dropped 6% in 2017, while domestic solar in California was losing 14.8%.

Words Of Solar Experts

Jeffrey Cook of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) jumps into the figures and possible pathways that could cut the LCOE for residential solar in the United States. At the finish of 2017, that LCOE was about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour; NREL’s study projects a decrease to as low 5 cents per kilowatt hour by 2030.

Getting there won’t be easy,  technical problems and other obstacles remain. But at that level, Cook recommends, rooftop solar would no longer be a luxury or long-term investment; it would be a standard, cost-effective and ubiquitous home appliance. In such a future, California’s command would be recognized as a historic turning point, but, perhaps, no longer needed.

Since 2010, solar photovoltaics (PV) have seen dramatic price reduction across the commercial, residential, and utility divisions. For example, the averaged cost of energy (LCOE) for residential PV has decreased from 52 cents per kilowatt-hour (¢/kWh) to 15.1 ¢/kWh between 2010 – 2017. In 2016, the Department of Energy (DOE) established new cost decrease targets for PV, including a 5 ¢/kWh target for residential PV by 2030. Looking forward, NREL predicts that residential PV may reach 9 ¢/kWh by 2030, based on current price reduction trajectories. As a result, innovative cost reduction strategies are likely needed to achieve the 5 ¢/kWh DOE target.

Solar Reaches DOE

If the solar industry reaches this DOE target, it could dramatically alter the energy market and exhibit a future where residential PV becomes a standard, cost-effective home installation, versus an extravagance or long-term investment. A recent NREL report, Cost-Reduction Roadmap for Residential Solar Photovoltaics (PV), 2017-2030, models a created pathway that the industry could support to realize this future. The analysis focuses on two key markets for domestic PV cost reduction, installing PV at time of roof replacement and installing PV at the time of new construction. These two market divisions were selected because each offers significant price decrease opportunities while representing a 30 gigawatt (GW) annual market nationally.  

If you want to find out what solar panels are right for you, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much you can save over the next 20 years by going solar, and we can help find local solar installers who can help. For more information relating to going solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for more handy guides and articles.