# GE Project Aimed to Cut Residential Solar Costs in Half

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2013/05/ge-residential-solar-costs/
- Published: 2013-05-19T00:59:38-04:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

**GE residential solar costs** were the focus of a research project aimed at making
home solar easier and cheaper to install.

## GE Targeted Lower-Cost Home Solar

txchnologist:

> ![image](https://i0.wp.com/media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9f2vvWQ4z1rpydpj.jpg?w=780&
> quality=52)
> By Txchnologist Editor
> Despite all of the excitement about the declining cost and increasing performance
> of photovoltaic solar, the nation’s homeowners have been lackadaisical about putting
> panels on their roofs. Last year, there were a record 40,000 residential solar
> installations in the U.S., but that number is a tiny fraction of the 130 million
> total homes in the country.
> A team of engineers from General Electric, the sponsor of this magazine, want 
> to increase the number of homes with solar roofs by halving the cost of a standard
> 5-kilowatt (KW) installation, which can provide about 85 percent of the average
> home’s electricity needs.
> The project, called the Smart Grid Ready Residential Solar System, partners GE
> Global Research and its Industrial Solutions businesses with the New York State
> Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The goal is to put 10 easy-
> to-install, low-cost systems on roofs in Syracuse and Albany by August.
> Meanwhile, a similar project in San Diego — which is part of a separate program
> called the California Solar Initiative – has crews performing energy audits on
> 10 homes, in addition to the rooftop solar installations. The project is a partnership
> with San Diego Gas & Electric.
> Both projects are the result of the engineers’ detective work into why solar is
> so expensive to install, said Charles Korman, the chief technologist for solar
> energy at GE Global Research. It isn’t the manufacturing cost of the technology:“
> Solar is as cheap as it’s ever been,” he said. Rather, it’s because there are 
> so many different products available for rooftop arrays that every job is effectively
> a custom installation. And then there are the high labor costs. Most systems require
> specially trained electrical contractors to connect high-voltage systems.
> ![image](https://i0.wp.com/media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9twozAlhv1rpydpj.png?w=780&
> quality=50)
> [Read More](https://txchnologist.com/post/25510813101/ge-cutting-residential-solar-costs-in-half#_=_)

## Soft Costs Matter as Much as Hardware

Permitting, design, installation labor and electrical integration can add significant
cost beyond the panels themselves. Simplifying those steps can make residential 
solar more competitive.

For more home-solar coverage, see our [New York solar energy article](https://greenlivingguy.com/2024/12/new-york-solar-energy-illuminating-homes-and-businesses/).

## Conclusion

The GE project showed that reducing solar costs requires more than cheaper modules.
Installation, electronics and system design all matter.

Original Txchnologist and NYSERDA project references are preserved above.

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 greenlivingguy

 The Green Living Guy, Seth Leitman is an independent power producer, a green living
expert, and Editor of the McGraw-Hill, TAB Green Guru Guides. Seth is also an Author,
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Green Living Guy writes about green living, green lighting, the green guru guides
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