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abracadaniel | 21 days ago

Installation costs dominate the price. I check every few years, and while the hardware is down to about $5k for me, cost for installation remained $45k-$50k. Which is where it’s been for years. Makes diy very attractive though.

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pjc50|21 days ago

This is bananas. Ten years ago I paid £5.5k for a whole 3.9kW installation, which has now more than paid for itself. I can see why everyone in the US is saying "get a trade job", you can rip off householders to a massive extent.

plantain|21 days ago

That cost makes absolutely no sense. It takes one single day for a couple of people to install solar and batteries on a residential house.

SR2Z|21 days ago

Baumol's Cost Disease at work, I guess.

antonkochubey|20 days ago

What kind of power we're talking about here? I was quoted €10600 (around half of which will be government-subsidized) for 8 kWp worth of panels + 10.24 kWh battery storage, including project documentation (for subsidies), labor, and materials.

metalman|21 days ago

50k? I could fly there, stay somewhere nice, buy a decent truck, put the solar PV on your roof, and make it home with 20k in my pocket to upgrade my solar power with and a truck.

frumper|20 days ago

That explains why many tradesman here are always driving new trucks.

tapoxi|21 days ago

How big is that system? Without incentives mine was half that for 8kw.

Izikiel43|21 days ago

How hard is it to DIY?

sfblah|21 days ago

The installation is straightforward, but the problem comes when you want to connect to the grid, because you have to get it approved by the utility. I'm sure getting a DYI installation approved by the utility is _possible_, but I wouldn't count on it. And, you may not know that you got disapproved until you've made the investment and are sort of screwed.

What I did was install solar with batteries and inverters that have the ability to never export power to the utility. That way I didn't have to tell them or seek their approval.