Decline in price of residential solar since 2000.
Cost trend of solar panels.
In 2020 a 10 000 solar system will qualify for a 2 600 tax credit.
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.
The solar industry today looks very different.
Labor costs to install solar panels.
A solar payback period is the amount of time it takes for property owners who install solar panels to recover their initial investment through electricity savings.
The easiest way to calculate the average cost of solar panels is to look at its price in dollars per watt w which is relatively consistent across the united states.
In addition to solar panel efficiency increasing dramatically solar panel producers have significantly improved their manufacturing processes.
Currently the credit is set at 30 percent but starting in 2020 the solar itc will be worth 26 percent of the total solar system cost including installation.
The average cost of solar panels has fallen 65 from 7 34 per watt in 2010 to 2 53 per watt in 2019.
Regardless of the exact cost of installation there are many affordable financing options for solar panel systems.
Over a decade ago in 2009 the cost of a solar panel installation was 8 50 per watt.
The cost of solar panels has fallen just 2 3 in 2019 and forbes foresees panel prices as bottoming out soon as the chinese market stabilizes.
This article was updated on 1 7 2020.
Today it s around 0 13 per watt or about 600 times less.
Solar industry analysis firm gtm also predicts residential solar installation costs to bottom out around 2 50 per watt a number that tesla has already attained and other installers are likely trying to figure out as well.
Key takeaways about solar panel cost the cost of solar in 2020 is about 12 920 after tax credits 2 91 watt the cost of solar has fallen over 20 over the past 5 years.
A standard 6 kw residential solar system has dropped from 44 000 down to 15 200 over the past decade not including the federal solar tax credit.
Solar panel prices change on a regular basis.
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.
Estimates are based on the average rate of decline.
Check our solar panels page for current pricing.
In pennsylvania the average solar payback period is 10 66 years.
Welcome to our comprehensive solar panel cost guide updated for 2020.