This month Energy Trust, in collaboration with Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE), Lewis & Clark's Green Energy Institute, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), will be sending out a survey to solar trade ally contractors. This survey will help us clarify what contributes to the cost of solar installations in Oregon.

Last year the U.S. Department of Energy and NREL sparked a national conversation surrounding the need to decrease solar soft costs. The 'soft costs' of a solar installation are defined as non-hardware costs which include permitting, inspection, interconnection, overhead, installation labor, customer acquisition, and financing. The Soft Cost Roadmap, proposed by NREL, outlines soft-cost-reduction pathways for the solar industry to pursue going forward with a goal of bring the levelized cost of solar in line with conventional sources of energy by 2020. Read more..