Ultimately there are many factors that figure into the price per watt of a solar system but the average cost is typically as low as 2 75 per watt.
Price per watt hour with solar panels.
With the average system size tallying in at 6 kilowatts this means.
Solar energy cost per kwh.
How much energy does a solar panel produce.
Residential solar energy costs 0 08 to 0 10 per kwh on average and commercial or utility scale solar power costs 0 06 to 0 08 per kilowatt hour.
Prices include the federal solar tax credit itc and vary drastically based on the amount of sunlight and type of solar panels installed.
For example in 2019 tou rates for some california solar homeowners can reach 0 46 kwh during peak summer hours.
Kilowatts shouldn t be confused with kilowatt hours which is the metric to show you how much electricity your system produces.
If your utility has tou rates you ll pay more per kwh for the electricity that you use during hours of peak electricity demand.
The average cost of installing solar panels is 3 05 per watt according to solar comparison shopping marketplace energysage.
This price depends on several factors.
The system s wattage is the number of panels multiplied by each panel s production rating.
This price will vary if a project requires special adders like ground mounting a main panel upgrade ev charger etc.
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.
For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way.
5 hours x 290 watts an example wattage of a premium solar panel 1 450 watts hours or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours kwh.
Solar companies can typically get a single solar panel at a price of 0 75 per watt.
The first way to look at the cost of solar is by watt or kilowatt.
Therefore if the solar panel output is 250 watts that single panel might cost you 187 50.
Peak tou rates can be as much as double the off peak rate.
Average price of solar panels.
The cost per watt is a simple measurement calculated by taking the total cost of the system and dividing it by the number of watts of capacity in the system.
However if a homeowner is trying to buy one or two panels on their own for a small diy project they will likely pay closer to 1 per watt.
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.
Three dollars per watt 3 w means that for a 5 kilowatt system a common solar system size the gross system cost will be 15 000.
Solar panel cost per watt example.