Achieving Low-Cost Solar PV: Industry Workshop Recommendations for Near-Term Balance of System Cost Reductions

The report argues that while solar PV module costs have declined aggressively, balance of system (BoS) costs—which account for about half of total installed costs—remain a significant barrier to adoption. Through a design charrette with industry experts, the report proposes a 'systems approach' focusing on physical design, business processes, and industry scaling to reduce BoS costs to $0.60–0.90/watt. Key recommendations include optimizing structural designs to reduce wind forces, rethinking electrical architectures through high-voltage aggregation and module-integrated electronics, streamlining permitting and interconnection processes to reduce project 'dropouts', and adopting high-volume lean manufacturing and component standardization.

• Balance of system (BoS) costs, which include all up-front costs except the PV module, represent approximately 50% of the installed cost for commercial and utility PV systems.
• Implementing the report's recommendations could reduce total BoS costs to between $0.60 and $0.90 per watt for large rooftop and ground-mounted systems, representing an improvement of about 50% over current best practices.
• Structural costs can be significantly reduced by minimizing wind forces; for ground-mounted systems, a 30–35% reduction in wind forces is achievable through strategies like staggering arrays and using border fencing.
• Electrical system costs could be reduced by 75–90% through new technology approaches, such as module-integrated power electronics and high-voltage aggregation (switching from 600 V to 1,000 V).
• Business process costs, which account for over 10% of total project costs (approximately $0.39/watt), are driven by high project 'dropout' rates and inefficient, non-standardized permitting and interconnection processes.
• The report proposes the creation of a National Solar Site Registry (NSSR) to compile data on insolation, grid capacity, and jurisdictional regulations to reduce project dropouts and improve site assessment.
• Transitioning from 'craft' to high-volume lean manufacturing and increasing component standardization could reduce some BoS component costs by up to 30% in the short term.
• Current structural codes, specifically ASCE-7, are identified as a barrier because they do not account for the shielding effects of fences or other structures, leading to overly conservative and expensive designs.

APA

Bony, L., Doig, S., Hart, C., Maurer, E., & Newman, S. (2010). Achieving Low-Cost Solar PV: Industry Workshop Recommendations for Near-Term Balance of System Cost Reductions. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-19BalanceOfSystemReport.pdf

Chicago

Bony, Lionel, Stephen Doig, Chris Hart, Eric Maurer, and Sam Newman. Achieving Low-Cost Solar PV: Industry Workshop Recommendations for Near-Term Balance of System Cost Reductions. RMI, 2010. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-19BalanceOfSystemReport.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bony |first1=Lionel |last2=Doig |first2=Stephen |last3=Hart |first3=Chris |last4=Maurer |first4=Eric |last5=Newman |first5=Sam |title=Achieving Low-Cost Solar PV: Industry Workshop Recommendations for Near-Term Balance of System Cost Reductions |publisher=RMI |date=September 2010 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-19BalanceOfSystemReport.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bony2010achieving, author = {Bony, Lionel and Doig, Stephen and Hart, Chris and Maurer, Eric and Newman, Sam}, title = {{Achieving Low-Cost Solar PV: Industry Workshop Recommendations for Near-Term Balance of System Cost Reductions}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2010}, month = sep, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2010-19BalanceOfSystemReport.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }