928: Why U.S. Solar Costs 2–3x More Than Australia | Barry Cinnamon

About this episode

Barry Cinnamon discusses the reasons behind the significant cost difference in solar installation between the U.S. and Australia.

Australia is installing solar and batteries for about $2 a watt. In the U.S., it’s closer to $5.50. So why do we still have this huge gap? Barry Cinnamon went to Australia to find out. What he discovered challenges one of the industry’s favorite explanations. Even if you remove permitting delays and other “soft costs,” the U.S. still doesn’t come close. Today’s Tactical Tuesday breaks down the real drivers behind [residential] solar pricing, from federal manufacturing policy and tariffs to financing structures and regulatory friction. Then we take it a step further, exploring a new hypothesis Barry has been modeling: using data center demand to help fund rooftop solar and storage . Expect to learn: 🔹 Why U.S. solar costs 2–3x more than Australia 🔹 What’s actually driving the cost gap beyond “soft costs” 🔹 How policy and financing shape the price customers pay 🔹 Why data centers could become unlikely allies for rooftop solar and storage This is a practical, provocative look at the policies and business models that could make solar cheaper, faster, and more useful to the grid. Tune in to hear Barry Cinnamon’s roadmap for making distributed energy actually affordable. Are there…

People in this episode

Host: Nico Johnson

Guest: Barry Cinnamon

Topics covered

• solar costs
• energy policy
• financing structures
• regulatory friction
• data centers
• rooftop solar
• clean energy

Keywords

• solar pricing
• soft costs
• federal manufacturing policy
• tariffs
• data center demand
• rooftop solar
• storage
• clean energy revolution

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Australia, U.S.

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