Evaluating the impact of third-party price reporting and other drivers on residential photovoltaic price estimates

We find that reported prices for confirmed appraised systems are $1.13/W higher than non-appraised systems and do not respond to hypothesized price drivers. For non-appraised systems, we find preliminary evidence of market distortions based on the impact of the incentive level, module cost and household income on reported price. Further, unspecified installer heterogeneity-possibly due to differences in products, cost structure or reporting practices-is a substantial price driver. Using estimates, we develop a price model to approximate non-appraised system prices.