Installation Costs are costs associated with installing the system, and include equipment, labor, engineering, permitting, and any other costs that apply in Year 0 of the project cash flow. Some costs, such as debt-related and sales tax costs are specified on the Financial Parameters page.

SAM uses the variables on the Installation Costs page to calculate the project investment cost and annual operating costs reported in the project cash flow and used to calculate cost metrics.

Recurring costs that apply in Years 1 and later of the project cash flow are on the Operating Costs page.

Variable values in boxes with white backgrounds are values that you can edit. Boxes with blue backgrounds contain calculated values or values from other pages that SAM displays for your information.

SAM provides the categories under Direct Capital Costs and Indirect Capital Costs for your convenience to help keep track of project installation costs. Only the Total Installed Cost value affects the cash flow calculations, so you can assign capital costs to the different cost categories in whatever way makes sense for your analysis. For example, you could assign the cost of designing the array to the module cost category or to the engineering category with equivalent results. After you assign costs to the categories, you should verify that the total installed cost value is what you expect.

Notes.
 
The default cost values that appear when you create a file or case are intended to illustrate SAM's use. The cost data are meant to be realistic, but not to represent actual costs for a specific project. For more information and a list of online resources for cost data, see the technology pages on the SAM website.
 
The Installation Costs page only available for cases with a cash-flow-based financial model. It is not available with the No Financial Model option or the LCOE Calculator financial model.

Direct Capital Costs

A direct capital cost represents an expense for a specific piece of equipment or installation service that applies in year zero of the cash flow.

Note: Because SAM uses only the total installed cost value in cash flow calculations, how you distribute costs among the different direct capital cost categories does not affect the final results.

Plant Cost, $

A fixed dollar amount.

Plant cost per capacity, $/W

A cost per Watt of nameplate capacity from the Power Plant page.

If the system includes a battery, you can specify the battery installation cost in $/kWh of battery capacity, $/kW of maximum discharge power, or both:

Battery cost per capacity, $/kWh DC

Battery installation cost in $/kWh of nominal bank capacity from the Battery Cell and System page.

Battery cost per kW, $/kW DC

Battery installation cost in $/kW of maximum charge power from the Battery Cell and System page.

Contingency cost, %

A percentage of the sum of the plant and battery costs to account for expected uncertainties in direct capital cost estimates.

Total Direct Cost, $

The sum of plant cost, plant cost per capacity, and contingency costs.

Indirect Capital Costs

An indirect cost is typically one that cannot be identified with a specific piece of equipment or installation service.

Note: Because SAM uses only the total installed cost value in cash flow calculations, how you distribute costs among the different indirect capital cost categories does not affect the final results.

Engineering and other EPC costs, % and $

Costs associated with the design and construction of the project.

% of Direct Cost is a value that you type as a percentage of Total direct cost (under Direct Capital Cost). SAM displays the equivalent dollar amount.

$ is a value that you type as an amount in dollars.

Permitting and other EPC costs, % and $

Costs associated with land purchases, permitting, and other costs.

% of Direct Cost is a value that you type as a percentage of Total direct cost (under Direct Capital Cost). SAM displays the equivalent dollar amount.

$ is a value that you type as a fixed amount in dollars.

Total Indirect Cost,  $

The sum of indirect capital costs.

Sales Tax

Sales tax basis, %

The percentage of total direct cost used to the calculate sales tax amount.

SAM calculates the total sales tax amount by multiplying the sales tax rate from the Financial Parameters page by the sales tax basis on the Installation Costs page:

Total Sales Tax ($) = Sales Tax Rate (%) × Sales Tax Basis (%) × Total Direct Cost ($)

For an explanation of the effect of sales tax on income tax, see Sales Tax on the Financial Parameters topic for the financial model you are using (Residential, Commercial, Single Owner, etc.)

Total Installed Cost

The total installed cost is the sum of all of the direct and indirect capital costs and sales tax. SAM uses this value to calculate the project's net capital cost, which is the total installed cost less any cash incentives on the Incentives page and plus any additional financing costs from Financial Parameters page.

Total installed cost, $

The sum of total direct cost and total indirect cost.

Total installed cost per capacity

Total installed cost divided by the total system rated or nameplate capacity. This value is provided for reference only. SAM does not use it in cash flow calculations.

The units depend on the type of system: For photovoltaic systems: $/Wdc, for standalone battery systems: $/Wac, for other systems: $/kWac.