Exploring the link between project delays and cancelation rates in the U.S. rooftop solar industry
Autor: | Robert Margolis, Jesse Cruce, Kristen Ardani, Eric O'Shaughnessy, Jeffrey J. Cook |
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Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
020209 energy
Photovoltaic system 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences Management Monitoring Policy and Law 01 natural sciences General Energy Risk analysis (engineering) Solar industry Installation 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Key (cryptography) Survey data collection Business 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
Zdroj: | Energy Policy. 156:112421 |
ISSN: | 0301-4215 |
Popis: | About 1 in 10 rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) customers who sign a contract to install a PV system cancel their contract before the system is installed. Although some cancelation risk is inherent in the solar industry, there may be ways to reduce cancelation volume, such as reducing project delays. Delays can occur at each stage of PV adoption processes, which take several weeks to months from contract signature to system operation. Using data from a recent survey of PV installers, we explore the factors that explain PV project delays and cancelations. The survey data suggest that PV adoptions take about 16 weeks, on average, from contract signature until system operation. Survey respondents consistently identified permitting, inspection, and interconnection (PII) processes as key drivers of project delays. Most respondents then suggested these PII-related delays increase contract cancelations. However, larger-scale installers report higher cancelation rates, and these installers rank changes in customer financial situations higher than PII-related delays as the main cause for cancelations. Most respondents also reported avoiding jurisdictions with particularly onerous PII requirements or charging more in these jurisdictions. On balance, the results provide a rationale for measures to streamline PII processes to reduce delays and potentially mitigate cancelation risk. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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