In Australia, residential solar and storage can be installed for about $2 a watt. In the U.S., a comparable system can cost more than twice that.
Why?
Barry Cinnamon was curious enough to go to Australia and investigate. What he found challenges the simple explanation that America's solar price gap comes down to permitting, labor, and other “soft costs.”
Australia offers a useful counterfactual: what can solar cost under a very different set of market and policy choices? And which of those choices would we actually want to make in America?
In this Tactical Tuesday, Barry and Nico unpack the cost stack and the tradeoffs behind it, from tariffs and domestic manufacturing to financing, interconnection, incentives, and policy stability.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why Australian solar and storage can cost dramatically less than comparable U.S. systems
🔹 Why soft costs explain only part of the price difference
🔹 How tariffs, financing, manufacturing policy, and regulation affect what customers ultimately pay
🔹 The harder question underneath the comparison: are we optimizing for the cheapest energy, domestic manufacturing, American jobs, or some combination of all three?
Australia isn't necessarily a blueprint for the U.S. But it gives us a fascinating benchmark for asking what we're paying for, why we're paying for it, and which tradeoffs we're willing to make.
Listen to Part 1 of our conversation with Barry Cinnamon.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
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(00:00) Comparing Australian and US Solar Installation Costs
(02:05) Investigating Australia's Low-Cost Solar Model
(03:17) The Australian versus US Solar Cost Breakdown
(04:21) Why US Federal Policies Drive Higher Costs
(05:44) Energy Cost Priorities versus Domestic Manufacturing Jobs
(07:33) Key Levers to Lower US Solar Prices
(08:55) Evaluating the Sustainability of Door-to-Door Sales
(09:44) Australian Battery Incentives and Homeowner Behavior
(11:16) Key Takeaways on Solar Tariffs and Incentives
