Link to Powerpoint Presentation: https://clipchamp.com/watch/vCBhPdNILCE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=watchThe current Biden administration has aggressive goals to dramatically increase solar deployment across the United States. While solar is highly sustainable compared to fossil fuel electricity sources, solar modules (colloquially known as solar panels) can contain hazardous waste and solar module recycling is still in its infancy. High quality solar equipment results in less waste overall, making it pivotal to the future of solar. This study uses solar installation data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to examine the impact of comparison shopping completed through EnergySage, the United States’ leading solar quote marketplace, on the quality of installed solar equipment. It finds that EnergySage installations include modules of higher efficiency, modules of greater wattage capacity, and more advanced module and inverter technology, compared to installations completed external to EnergySage. It also finds that over the past three years, despite supply chain constraints severely impacting the solar industry, modules have significantly increased in efficiency and capacity, at roughly the same rate for installations completed through and external to EnergySage. However, over these same three years, EnergySage installations consistently contained higher quality equipment, suggesting that competition may drive installers to quote and solar consumers to request and choose higher quality solar equipment
