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Summary
This page highlights the movements of Charge
Controller (also known as "regulator") prices
on the Internet over recent years.
Across
this month's survey of 602 prices and 39 online retailers,
there were 43 price moves, down from 46 last month. These
moves translated into 34 increases and 9 decreases. This
result compares with just 37 increases and 9 decreases last
month. Like other Balance of Systems (BOS) products, charge
controller prices tend to move considerably less than solar
module prices.
The strong upward price bias left the US index up to $5.84
per Amp this month.
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
Euro Index is up as a result of the dollar's increase against
euro over the month.
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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