Solar studies provide default financial inputs as a starting point for your solar study. You can update these with your own data. The sources for our financial assumptions are listed below. Today our financial data is on a state level in the US and Australia, and set to a global default for the rest of the world.

Data for the US is a compilation of different sources: NREL’s OpenPV, NREL’s annual report and Energy Sage.

Data for Australia is obtained from SolarQuotes for a 6.6kWh system including installation costs and excluding rebate values.

Since installing solar panels on parking lots involve more material resources, we assumed a common multiplier of 1.54 from rooftop solar panels.

Data for the US is obtained via the “Average retail price of electricity to ultimate customers by end-use” table from US Energy Information Administration. Delve uses data from April, 2023.

Data for Australia obtained from the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission.

Data for the US is obtained via the “Average retail price of electricity to ultimate customers by end-use” table from US Energy Information Administration. Data from 2001 to 2023 is used to calculate the growth rate.

Data for Australia is obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and calculated as the average of annualized quarterly growth rate since 1993

Data for the US obtained from DSIREUSA.

Data for Australia is set to "Not applicable", as Delve currently does not support net metering incentives in Australia.

Defaulted to 0.6 and updated by user.

Defaulted to 4% and updated by user.

US data obtained from NREL’s Homeowners Guide to Leasing a Solar Electric System, which assumes $88 for a 4kW system per month.

Australian data obtained from Energy Made Easy.

Since installing solar panels on parking lots involve more material resources, we assumed a common multiplier of 1.54 from rooftop solar panels.

Defaulted to 0.03 to reflect typical inflation rate.

US data obtained from Electricity Market Policy (Berkeley Lab). States that fall into multiple regions assume the value of the ISO/RTO that occupies the majority of the state. Since the cost has decreased steadily, only data since 2019 is used in the mean.

Australian data calculated based on information from Komo Energy.

The US figure is defaulted to 3% as it is representative of a range of sources, including US Environmental Protection Agency, Unbound Solar, solar.com, EnergySage.

Australian data calculated based on information from Komo Energy.

Incentive programs are sourced from DSIRE USA. Incentive data include federal programs and state-level programs for all 50 states. Only solar incentives for commercial properties are accounted for at this stage. US incentives include federal tax credits, state tax credits, rebates, and net metering policies. The amount of the solar incentive depends on the type of incentive, the state in which the incentive is offered, and the size of the solar system.

Additional sources for solar incentives include Solar Reviews, National Regulatory Institute, Great River Energy, Pacific Power, and New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission.