Overview of costs today

Photovoltaic solar panels have come a long way since their first inception in the 1970s. With crystalline panels reaching their theoretical limit of 30% efficiency in labs and the emergence of thin film panels, manufacturers are now looking for ways to reduce manufacturing costs of panels to give consumers the most bang for the buck. Over the past decade, great strides have been made in reducing the prices of solar panels and photovoltaic systems in order to make them affordable to residential users.

Manufacturing Costs

According to the US Department of Energy, the average price per peak watt of crystalline solar module in 2008 was $3.80 and the average cost of a thin film module was $2.82 for manufacturers.

First Solar, the leading manufacturer of thin film panels, has led the way in reducing the manufacturing price per peak watt of photovoltaic cells to 98 cents per watt in 2009, with further goals of reducing it to 65 cents per watt by 2012.

Retail Costs

The average retail price of PV modules dropped significantly over the past year, from $4.84/watt in January of 2009 to $4.30/watt in January 2010, according to Solar Buzz.

Installation Costs

According to the report, Tracking the Sun II, released by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the average cost of residential PV installations in the United States during 2008 was $7.90/W, significantly greater than $6.90/W in Japan and $6.10/W in Germany. The cost of installing in Japan and Germany suggests that installation costs can still be lowered. However, the net installation costs of residential systems in the US dropped to $5.40/W after incentives and rebates.

Summary

With manufacturers finding innovative ways to give consumers more watts per dollar and installers finding better methods of installing panels, the costs to the end user should keep going downward. With more Americans tying to the grid and economies of scale coming into effect along with greater incentives in the future, the cost of solar panels is expected to continue to decline.

Related Posts

No related posts.