Balance of System Costs for a 5 MW Photovoltaic Generating System

A cost study was conducted of a 12.2 million kWh/year (5 MW) photo- voltaic power plant of various configurations using actual data and experience from ARCO Solar's large-scale PV' projects in California. System costs were divided into PV costs and all BOS cost elements, which were grouped into area-related costs (inversely dependent on PV efficiency), power-related costs, and fixed costs. PV and area-related BOS costs make up 75% to 85% of total cost in all cases studied. Study results indicate the high sensitivity of BOS costs to PV efficiency, system configuration design, and BOS equipment design, and identify efficiency and configuration as the most effective avenues for BOS and system cost reduction.