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Summary
This
page highlights the movements of Charge Controller (also
known as "regulator") prices on the Internet over
the last two years.
Across
this month's survey of 548 prices and 33 online retailers,
there were only 8 price moves, down from 17 last month.
The
obvious conclusion is stable pricing at the present time.
There were 3 price increases and 5 price decreases. This
compares with 9 increases and 8 decreases last month.
Like
other Balance of Systems (BOS) products, charge controller
prices tend to move considerably less than solar module
prices.
As
a result of the few moves, the US Index was unchanged again
at $5.88 per Amp.
The Battery Regulator cost typically represents around 10%
of the total installed cost of an off-grid complete solar
system. Therefore,
Regulator prices are not as important a cost element of
a solar energy system as the solar module, battery or installation
costs. A Charge Controller is usually required on systems
which utilize a battery. There are a few exceptions to this,
though.
The Price Index methodology is to aggregate the prices of
all Charge Controllers on the survey and divide by the aggregate
Amps output of those same products. This produces a price
per Amp, which is represented in US dollars and euros on
the right.
Since
this Index aggregates on a global basis, the indices simply
represents all prices summarized in US dollars and Euros
- it does not represent the differences between product
prices in North America and Europe. The dollar weakened
against the euro last month, which caused the reduction
in the euro index to €4.23
per Amp.
This overall survey methodology only represents a guide
to the direction of price, since there are other factors
in addition to Amperage that are relevant to the performance
and technical capabilities of individual Charge Controller
models.
Unlike Inverters and Solar Modules, where a relatively small
number of companies represent a large share of the total
market, there is a wide range of companies that manufacture
Charge Controllers, often serving very local markets.
Our analysis by product model is available through our consultancy
services.
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