I wonder how much is being invested into reducing the costs of inverters and MPPTs and such. ("Balance of system" seems to be the term?)
I'm looking into a DIY install, and it's looking like the microinverters are going to basically be just as expensive as the panels themselves. A quick Google seems to imply this is similar for utility-scale installs: the BoS costs are less than, but still comparable to the costs of the actual panels.
On one hand I get it; panels are very simple, robust devices, while inverters need to interface with the grid and usually have network connectivity and so on. On the other hand, there's a lot less material in an inverter, and they're still relatively simple electronics? Which we're pretty good at mass producing cheaply. You'd think there's a lot of room there to get the cost down.
I'm looking into a DIY install, and it's looking like the microinverters are going to basically be just as expensive as the panels themselves. A quick Google seems to imply this is similar for utility-scale installs: the BoS costs are less than, but still comparable to the costs of the actual panels.
On one hand I get it; panels are very simple, robust devices, while inverters need to interface with the grid and usually have network connectivity and so on. On the other hand, there's a lot less material in an inverter, and they're still relatively simple electronics? Which we're pretty good at mass producing cheaply. You'd think there's a lot of room there to get the cost down.