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					</table>The median installed prices of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems across most U.S. states dropped year-over-year (YoY), with the residential segment recording average annual declines of up to $0.2/W per year. The non-residential segment recorded a price decline of $0.1-0.3/W per year, in the last five years, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (<a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LBL</a>).
LBL&#8217;s report &#8216;Tracking the Sun&#8217; is based on data from roughly 2.5 million PV systems installed countrywide through 2021, with preliminary data for the first half of 2022.
The report also says the U.S. has seen a drastic rise in PV plus storage installations, with 10% of all new residential PV installations and 5% of all non-residential installations, including battery storage, in 2021.
Residential and non-residential PV system sizes have <a href="https://mercomindia.com/residential-solar-system-sizes-continue-to-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">risen</a> over the past two decades, with the median residential sizes reaching 7 kW with most systems ranging between 4 and 10 kW, while the median non-residential sizes stood at 33 kW in 2021.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-41923" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/National-Installed-Prices-Over-Time.png" alt="National Installed Prices Over Time" width="723" height="648" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/National-Installed-Prices-Over-Time.png 723w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/National-Installed-Prices-Over-Time-300x269.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/National-Installed-Prices-Over-Time-650x583.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/National-Installed-Prices-Over-Time-624x559.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/National-Installed-Prices-Over-Time-600x538.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px" />
The report said that the size of non-residential PV systems also increased, though typical system sizes plateaued in recent years, with the median size in 2021 was 33 kW with 20% of systems in 2021 larger than 150 kW, and an average size of 255 kW.
Of the 66 entities and 30 states contributing to the report, the Berkeley lab projects California to dominate the U.S. market with 3,000 residential PV systems installed in 2021.
In the residential sector, 94% of the installations were PV systems with module-level power electronics (MLPE) comprising microinverters and DC optimizers. The non-residential sector saw 81% MLPE system installations in 2021.
Median installed prices in the country have dropped by roughly $0.4/W per year on average, but price declines have gradually narrowed since 2013, after which price declines averaged $0.1-0.2/W across segments.
The narrowing of price is primarily a function of the underlying module-cost trajectory but also reflects growing customer acquisition costs, among other costs embedded in the residual balance of system (BoS) and soft costs.
The report notes that persistent supply chain constraints continue to mount pressure on prices but are partly absorbed under the inflation adjustment of the pricing data into real dollar terms. Median installed prices for standalone PV systems dropped by ₵10-20/watt, from 2020-2021, across residential and non-residential customer classes. Median prices for residential and non-residential projects increased in 1H 2022 in nominal terms.
Module efficiency
The report said module efficiencies have also risen, wherein the median module efficiencies among residential and non-residential systems increased from 13.6% in 2022 to 20.1% in 2021. The efficiency improvement is attributed to the market share of monocrystalline modules covering 89-98% of the market share in 2021, depending on the segment.
The increased use of mono-passivated emitter rear-cell (PERC) technology is also one of the factors for enhanced module efficiencies. In 2021, most PV systems installed had 19% to 21% efficiencies.
After the winter storm Uri that hit Texas in February 2021, there was an uptick in PV+storage adoption as new interconnections surged by more than three times in CenterPoint&#8217;s service territory (from roughly 300 to 1,000) and by six times in Oncor&#8217;s service territory (from 200 to 1,300).
PV+Storage
The U.S. has seen a drastic rise in PV and storage attachments, with 10% of all new residential PV installations and 5% of all non-residential installations, including battery storage, in 2021. Hawaii&#8217;s residential PV+storage attachment rate is 93%, and 59% in the non-residential segment. California, which hosts most paired systems, has attachment rates of 11% in residential and 5% in the non-residential segment.
The storage sizes for paired residential systems also increased in 2021, reflecting the growing demand for backup power, with 42% of all paired residential installs consisting of at least 10 kW battery storage per PV unit.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-41930" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Installed-Price-Comparison-Standalone-vs-Paired-PV.png" alt="Installed Price Comparison Standalone vs Paired PV" width="673" height="646" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Installed-Price-Comparison-Standalone-vs-Paired-PV.png 673w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Installed-Price-Comparison-Standalone-vs-Paired-PV-300x288.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Installed-Price-Comparison-Standalone-vs-Paired-PV-650x624.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Installed-Price-Comparison-Standalone-vs-Paired-PV-624x599.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Installed-Price-Comparison-Standalone-vs-Paired-PV-600x576.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px" />
Among standalone PV systems without storage, installed prices vary by almost $2/W between the 20th and 80th percentile values for residential and small non-residential customers and roughly $1.5/W for large non-residential customers.
In paired residential projects installed in 2021, average storage costs were roughly $1,200/kWh of storage capacity, equating to an additional $1.9/W of PV. In comparison, median costs for a similar size of residential storage systems funded through California&#8217;s Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) were $1,149/kWh in 2021.
Earlier this month, U.S.-based module maker First Solar announced the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/first-solar-to-invest-1billion-to-scale-us-module-production/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allocation</a> of $1.2 billion to ramp up the production of American-made, responsibly produced photovoltaic solar modules totaling 4.4 GW to support the nation&#8217;s decarbonization drive until 2025.

Solar Plus Energy Storage Gains Market Share in Residential Installations in the US

According to a recently released report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (<a href="https://www.lbl.gov/">LBNL</a>), the pipeline of solar capacity in the U.S. at the end of 2020 was around 460 GW. Of this, 160 GW or 34% of projects include battery storage facilities.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture1-2.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-29562" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture1-2.png" alt="" width="624" height="323" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture1-2.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture1-2-300x155.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture1-2-600x311.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /></a>
The utility-scale solar sector in the United States added 14 GWDC of capacity in 2020, a 65% year-over-year (YoY) increase. Of this, 161 new projects had a capacity of over 5 MW and accounted for 9.6 GWDC of overall capacity added in 2020.
In 2020, solar accounted for 38% of all generating capacity addition. Of this, utility-scale solar accounted for 27% of total capacity. The utility-scale solar comprised over 20% of all generating capacity additions in the last eight years.
Texas surpassed California in utility-scale solar deployment and added 2.5 GWAC, or 26% of total addition in the U.S., in 2020. California, which added 1.6 GWAC in 2020, accounted for the highest cumulative capacity (32%).
In the Southeast, Florida with 1.6 GWAC capacity additions and Georgia and Virginia with 700 MW each led the growth in 2020.
The report noted that larger utility-scale solar projects with capacities between 100 and 500 MW cost 17% less per MW than smaller projects ranging between 5 and 20 MW in 2020.
The average operation and maintenance (O&amp;M) cost for utility-scale solar projects decreased 50% to $16/kW in 2020 from around $32/kW annually in 2011.
The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar projects declined 85% since 2010 to $34/MWh. The decline was due to lower capital costs, higher capacity factors, lower operating expenses, longer design life, and improved financing terms.
Similarly, the average power purchase agreement (PPA) prices declined 85% since 2009 across the U.S. Most recent PPAs are priced around $20/MWh in California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and the non-independent system operator (ISO) West. The PPAs for solar projects are priced around $30-$40/MW in the continental U.S.
The report said that crystalline solar modules were used in 71% of the newly installed capacity in 2020, while thin films were used in the remaining 29% capacity. Hanwha had the highest market share for crystalline solar modules, followed by Jinko Solar and Trina.
In 2020, 89% of the newly installed solar capacity was using single-axis tracking technology.
In September this year, the Solar Energy Industry Association <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-solar-industry-new-goal/">increased</a> its target for Solar+ Decade to account for 30% of overall power generation by 2030. The previous target was 20% by 2030.
According to forecasts from Wood Mackenzie, the U.S. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/us-adds-5-7-gw-solar-capacity-q2-2021/">will</a> add an average of over 29 GW of solar capacity annually through 2026. However, the deployment pace is short of reaching President Joe Biden’s 2035 clean energy targets. To achieve the targets, the industry needs to install over 80 GW of solar annually from 2022 through 2035.

US Had a Pipeline of 160 GW for Solar Projects With Battery Storage at the End of 2020

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