Solar Panel Price Trend Graph

With higher efficiency government incentives and improved technology the prices of residential solar panels continued to plummet particularly over the past decade.

Solar panel price trend graph. Back in 1977 the price of solar photovoltaic cells was 77 for just one watt of power. The solar industry even has its own name swanson s law for the falling price of solar panels. This article was updated on 1 7 2020. As of fall 2019 nearly 250 000 americans work in solar more than double the number in 2012 at more than 10 000 companies in every u s.

What are the price trends for solar panels. The price quotes are for 1mwp of panels fob china port. To power 13 5 million homes and this amount is expected to double in the next five years. This chart tracks the price that chinese panel manufacturers are selling their crystalline panels for.

Solar companies can typically get a single solar panel at a price of 0 75 per watt. Therefore if the solar panel output is 250 watts that single panel might cost you 187 50. 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. The price decreases over the past ten years are a major reason why homeowners are increasingly interested in installing solar panels.

The chart below shows the cost to purchase an off grid system with an appropriately sized battery bank. Solar as an economic engine. Average solar panel cost. Changes in solar panel cost over time can be explained by swanson s law which states that the price of solar pv modules decreases by about 20 percent for every doubling in global solar capacity the law is named after richard swanson founder of high.

Ten years ago a residential photovoltaic system could cost more than 50 000 00. Popularized in a 2012 article in the economist swanson s law states that solar panel prices tend to decrease by 20 for every doubling of worldwide panel shipments. Solar panel prices change on a regular basis. However solarreviews handles more than 1 000 quote requests per day and the current average price we see on our marketplace is 2 53 per watt.

The solar energy industry is part of a very dynamic market. In 2019 the solar industry generated 18 7 billion of investment in the american economy. Today it s around 0 13 per watt or about 600 times less. Many factors including government policies fossil fuel costs solar energy technology advances commodity prices and even public awareness of the climate crisis impact.

National data september 2020. Decline in price of residential solar since 2000. The long term trend shows that solar panel prices are consistently falling. The cost has generally been following swanson s law which states that the price of solar drops by 20 for every doubling of shipped product.

To make the chart enf calls over 100 panel manufacturers certified with iec61215 or iec61730 to check their price each month. There is now enough installed solar energy capacity in the u s.