AC Modules can lower customer acquisition costs? Huh?

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ACPV expands the market for solar by qualifying even shade-prone sites for PV systems.

Recently, I spoke on a panel at the GreenTech Media Solar Summit on “Accelerating BOS Cost Reductions in Rooftop Solar” with some excellent solar colleagues from Unirac, SolarEdge, and NRG. Each of the panelists was asked to describe their most important target for balance of system (BOS) cost reductions.

At SolarBridge, we often speak of the BOS savings customers can achieve from our tight integration and factory assembly of module, inverter, AC/DC cabling, and equipment ground, which is what separates a TRUEAC^TM module from other microinverter solutions.

Our customers have validated findings from our own internal studies that this integration can yield a 30%-50% installation labor savings over a comparable string inverter, DC optimizer, or detached microinverter solution. The plug-and-play nature of TRUEAC modules saves both design time and logistics headaches (a study by WoodLawn Associates indicated up to $0.07/W savings in design and engineering costs for microinverter-based systems versus string-based systems!). And with no central point of failure (a la string inverters) that can bring down the entire system and an integrated 25-year warranty O&M costs are greatly reduced.

But, my answer to this question on that day, which has prompted a bit of discussion and perhaps controversy, is that the biggest thing TRUEAC modules can do to lower BOS is reduce customer acquisition costs. Studies on the cost of residential customer acquisition in the US have put that cost anywhere from $0.25/W to over $1.00/W. It is a big number. And, my contention is that TRUEAC modules can lower that cost for installers.

How? TRUEAC Modules lower acquisition costs in two meaningful ways:

1. 

   Even challenging roofs can accommodate more solar with ACPV, increasing revenue per sale.

   By increasing the available market: TRUEAC modules turn every solar module into an independent, grid-tied PV power plant. That means that every module has module-level MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking), and operates independently of other modules in the system. By eliminating the design constraints that exist with all string inverters, and by allowing the system to be significantly more tolerant to shading, multiple roof orientations and tilt angles, you allow more challenging roofs to support solar. Roofs that you would typically disqualify if you only had a string inverter solution. By doing so, you increase the number of viable customers for any given sales and marketing campaign, which will increase the number of successful sales, and just as relevant, reduce the amount of time (and $$) spent with customers that don’t have a roof suitable for solar with string inverters.

2. By increasing the system size per sale: For the same reasons as in #1, TRUEAC systems allow an installer to put more solar on any given roof. Small sections of roofs that are at different orientation or tilt can be easily accessed. Portions of the roof with some partial shading from a tree, chimney, pole, or dormer which would wreak havoc with a string inverter can be utilized with AC Modules. This all results in higher watts per sale, and higher revenue per sale. So, while the cost to acquire that customer may be the same, the revenue and profit you get from that customer is increased. We like to talk about customer acquisition in terms of $/W. By growing the “W” you reduce the $/W.

Not everyone believed me. And, it is a very challenging thing to prove, as there is so much variability in customer acquisition costs by region and installer. But, you have to ask yourself why many of the fastest growing residential installers in the US have chosen to standardize on microinverter-based systems, which have captured over 40% of the US residential inverter market.

It’s not just about energy harvest.