Tracking the Sun: Pricing and Design Trends for Distributed Photovoltaic Systems in the United States, 2023 Edition

Berkeley Lab’s annual Tracking the Sun report describes trends among grid-connected, distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) and paired PV+storage systems in the United States. For the purpose of this report, distributed solar includes residential systems, roof-mounted non-residential systems, and ground-mounted systems up to 5 MW-AC.  Ground-mounted systems larger than 5 MW-AC are covered in Berkeley Lab’s companion annual report, Utility-Scale Solar.

The latest edition of the report is based on 3.2 million systems installed through year-end 2022, representing more than 80% of systems installed to date. The report describes and discusses key trends related to:

• Project characteristics, including system size, module efficiencies, prevalence of paired PV with storage, use of module-level power electronics, third-party ownership, mounting configurations, panel orientation, and non-residential customer segmentation ownership
• Median installed-price trends, both nationally and by state
• Variability in pricing according to system size, state, installer, equipment type, and other factors, relying on both descriptive and econometric analysis

The report also includes a multi-variate regression analysis to estimate the effects of key pricing drivers for residential systems installed in 2022.

The report, published in slide-deck format, is accompanied by a narrative executive summary, interactive data visualizations, a public data file, and summary data tables. All items can also be found at: http://trackingthesun.lbl.gov.  

We want to hear from you. If you have specific questions about the report or data or requests for related analytical support from LBNL staff, you can submit those comments through a separate form here, and they will be routed to the appropriate staff. 

A brief overview of this study can be found here. A webinar discussing this study was recorded on October 4, 2023, and can be viewed here.