Over a decade ago in 2009 the cost of a solar panel installation was 8 50 per watt.
Cost of solar panels over time graph 2018.
However solarreviews handles more than 1 000 quote requests per day and the current average price we see on our marketplace is 2 60 per watt.
Average solar panel cost.
How does system size impact the cost of solar.
In addition to solar panel efficiency increasing dramatically solar panel producers have significantly improved their manufacturing processes.
Current industry average cost between 3 to 4 per watt average size solar panel system between 5 and 6 kilowatts a kilowatt is 1000 watts 3 26 per watt x 5 000 watts 16 300 per system before the 30 itc tax credit.
The dramatic drop in the cost of solar photovoltaic pv modules which has fallen by 99 percent over the last four decades is often touted as a major success story for renewable energy technology.
With higher efficiency government incentives and improved technology the prices of residential solar panels continued to plummet particularly over the past decade.
10 cost of solar panels cost of solar power charts.
Cost of solar panels over time.
The average cost of solar panels has gone from 76 67 watt in 1977 to just 0 698 watt today the second figure is according to pvinsights and is even lower than the 2013 projected price in the chart below.
It now costs 50 to produce one megawatt hour of solar power according to a new analysis.
The solar industry today looks very different.
Knowing the average cost per watt is helpful but what does 2 91 watt actually mean for you.
Here s an example on how we can breakdown solar panel cost and what it typically costs for installing a system.
National data september 2020.
When adding in incentives like the federal tax credit the cost of utility scale solar drops further to just 32 per mwh.
In 2018 it found that unsubsidized utility scale solar costs 36 per mwh while natural gas cost 41 per mwh and coal 60 per mwh.
The most recent official data from the doe funded lawrence berkeley labs published in september 2019 found that the median cost of residential solar panels is 3 70 watt.
Standard solar panels cost anywhere from 70 cents to 1 20 per watt depending on their output quality and where they are manufactured.
When you look at more specialized panels that are manufactured in lower quantities the price climbs up above 2 watt.
A tale of falling prices.
The cost of producing solar power is rapidly declining.
Coal on the other hand costs 102 per megawatt.