How much do solar panels cost

The best way to compare a system $/watt is using the installed price divided by the DC wattage. You can then determine the final cost per watt after you subtract any rebates or Fed tax incentives.

Knowing what your system is supposed to provide in a yearly AC kWh is also a good marker but that number can vary based on the weather and dirt conditions so don't let a vendor convince you that their calculated yearly kWh value is 100% accurate.

Both DC (total panel wattage for the entire system) and annual system output (or output per installed STC kW of panels for example) have uses, and both as well as other descriptors can provide useful information, but they are not the same.

The most common way I've seen used is to discuss entire system price before any rebates, tax credits., in terms of $$ (or currency) per the entire STC (D.C.) W of panels. Other methods then sometimes/often are added for further explanation(s) and descriptions of system performance or characteristics.

So, other ways, such as $$/kWh production per time period (per year for example), per installed STC kW of panels also have use. Sometimes the units get convoluted and a bit confusing.

Most descriptions use or at least start with total $/installed price before rebates/tax credits per total STC W of panels and go from there.

So, paying $15,000 bottom line to a vendor for a 5 STC kW turnkey system (after any/all of their come-on/B.S. rebates etc.< would have a price usually describes as $15,000/5,000 STC W = $3.00/ STC. W. Often, the STC letters are left out but implied or assumed known.

If that system then produces 9,000 kWh/yr., the price of the annual generation will be $15,000/(9,000 kWh/yr.) = $1.67yr/kWh.

The absolute value of the numbers are different because they are describing different things using different units.

The definition police won't whack your peepee for using more than one definition, provided it's clear from the context what you are talking about. Others can always ask for more information.

The industrial systems proposed recently here, used the peak AC power the inverters could
deliver. Same as I do. Some also included a DC:AC ratio, showing how much more the panel
DC rating total was over the AC. The E-W trackers were much more that 1:1, to compensate
for panels mounted on a shaft parallel to the ground instead of parallel to the earths axis, here
at 42 deg Lat. Bruce Roe

I took the sense of JRqwetyui's question to be what do most folks use as a measuring stick for incremental system cost when discussing system prices. Since the usual, and I'd suggest more common discussion is about and relating to smaller residential systems, either on or off grid, I took that meaning and sense of the question to be either system $$/STC W size, or kWh/yr per STC W (or STC kW), with the former being the more common, but both having usefulness.

If I have a quote for, say, 5,940 STC W of panels hooked to a, say, 5 kW inverter, and the quoted price from that vendor is for, say, $19,305, sitting on my roof and ready to go, how do I best describe my price per W from the vendor when making bid comparisons ? $19305/5,940 W, or $19,305/5,000 ?

Suppose another vendor come in with a 5,940 W system hooked to a 6 kW inverter for, say, $19,700 ? What do I do to compare prices and value between quotes ?

In such cases, I might get a better price comparisons by using a model such as PVWatts that will allow me to SWAG compare the initial cost of bids to the annual output using DC-AC ratios, etc,

I'd probably do that anyway, but using inverter size by itself, while nice to have is, in itself, insufficient IMO as the sole size descriptor.

Respectfully,

Yes that is true. But that is what is being used for some pretty big stuff here. I see 2MW
proposals for fixed panels set for our (considerable) 42 deg Lat, but unable to shake off
winter snow. Another company proposed a 2MW E-W tracker sys able to throw off snow
but with a very high DC-AC ratio due to a level tracking pivot shaft. These have considerably
different costs, energy collection potential, (precious) farmland occupied, maintenance level,
operational noise, and probably more I forgot. But the same inverter capacity is used for
state/Fed rebate calculation, as well as credit against state mandated renewable energy
construction. Something else never mentioned is the chosen site relative output degradation
by clouds, a pretty big factor over this state.

At some of these zoning meets, I do wonder if I should be doing more to demonstrate what
is really possible/desirable? Here one rating system could make my sys look great, another
terrible, none are really apples to apples. I will just say Wed managed 120 KWH from the 15KW
inverters, some would call that 8 sun hours. Thurs was cloudy, generally acknowledge to give
10% to 30% level performance, but it made 74 KWH anyway. Meets my goals. Bruce Roe

Great information, solar panels are complicated as I thought. I am just a newbie and very interested in the solar panel because it's environmentally friendly. I think I need to learn more before converting to solar panel from the usual generator.

I picked your post to ask a follow-up. 6 years later what do you find your materials only wholesale cost per watt to be?

Been poking around and seems possible to get under $1/watt. panels, racking, inverter, etc

Yes, $1/watt wholesale at most for materials... Panels alone are around 50cents/watt for good quality, value brands.

I just saw a post on another forum that says installed systems in Australia are $700 per kiloWatt. I don't know if that is AUD but in our common terminology that is $0.70 per Watt. Can solar pete confirm?

Hi All,

The price has gone up in the last 12 months or so, we have had a combination of reducing up front incentives (STC's small scale technology certificates) and the price of panels and all other bits needed have gone up. So we are just over $1.00 per Watt on smaller systems and bigger ones say 10kW or 13kW are just under a dollar per watt, that's installed prices, so its gone up a bit but not too much, cheers

Sad to hear about the price going up but I sure wish I could get a 7kw system for $1/watt. For me I have only gotten estimates of an installed price closer to $3/watt which calculates to a longer then my life expectancy ROI.

I'm pricing mine now and near Chicago best wholesale price so far is $1.41/watt for materials delivered. I'm like you about the timeframe for ROI, when I buy trees, I get bigger ones I don't have 30 years to wait for it to grow up LOL

Would you mind posting or PM'ing where one could get such pricing? I'm in California.

Yep in South Australia www.solarwholesalers.com.au , sorry best I can suggest for Cali is do some searches on www.solarreviews.com

On average, the benchmark $1 per 1 kilowatt of energy