Cost of Solar Panel is Coming Down

This article looks at the real Cost of Solar Panel and how you can significantly reduce these costs. Specifically, we will look at why globally the cost of solar panel is coming down, how government grants can reduce your costs and how you can significantly reduce the cost of providing solar power for your home by a huge 70%.

For some time, the manufacture of solar panels has been held back by a shortage of polysilicon.  However, recently more factories have started making solar panels, especially in China.  As the supply of solar panels increases we are seeing a corresponding reduction in solar panel prices.  With the increased supply, the cost of solar panel has come down by approximately 20% during the last year.  Although still not cheap, solar panels are gradually becoming more affordable.

Government Grants

Governments are very keen for folk to take up green renewable energy.  Most governments offer various grants and financial incentives to encourage the installation of domestic solar panels and wind turbines.  Depending on where you live, these grants can be very generous, in some places contributing more than a third of the overall cost.

Note: in most countries to qualify for the government incentives you must use approved products, in the US your panels must have UL approval.

Current Cost of Solar Panel

Although the cost of solar panel has come down by more than 20% in the last 12 months, solar panels cannot be considered cheap!  The best way to look at the cost of solar panel is the cost per watt.  Solar cells are used to make different sized solar panels and these panels typically produce 40, 50, 55, 60, 80, 130 or 180 watts.  The output is determined by the number of solar cells that make up the panel and the efficiency of the photovoltaic material used in each cell.

Although it is claimed by some people that  the current cost of solar panel is $3 – $4 per watt, it is still difficult to find many solar panels available that cheap.  Having spent many hours trawling through the Internet searching for solar panels and trying to find the cheapest available, based upon the offers currently available I estimate the the cost of solar panel is typically around $5 – $7 per watt.  Here is an example of some of the solar panels that are available at GoGreenSolar and Amazon:

The above solar panels have a cost per watt range of $5.10 to $7.50, with most panels costing just under $5.50 per watt.

The Real World Cost of Solar Panel

Realistically, apart from the exceptional bargains currently on offer at Amazon (see below), we expect to pay $300 – $450 or more for a commercially manufactured 60 watt solar panel.

If you want to reduce your dependence of mains electricity and burning fossil fuels, you will need a number of solar panels to provide sufficient power.  How many solar panels you need will depend on how much electricity you consume each year and where you live.  But, let us take an average US family and assume that you will need 3000 watts (3KW) of solar power, which equates to 50 x 60w solar panels.  For 3KW the total cost of solar panel will be $15,000 – $22,500.

So, although the cost of solar panel has come down, we are still looking at what most people would consider to be a large sum of money.

Is there a Realistic Do It Yourself Alternative?

One option that is promoted by many web sites is to go down the do it yourself route.  If you want just a couple of solar panels, to provide light and some power for a shed, workshop or garage, making them yourself could be a practical, enjoyable and satisfying project.  The DIY route should enable you to make a 60watt solar panel for around $175.  But if you want 3000 watts of solar energy, we strongly recommend you buy commercially manufactured solar panels. The DIY route takes too much time and effort, it is not cost effective and home made solar panels are very unlikely to qualify for the grants and rebates that many Governments offer (in the US, solar panels must have UL approval to qualify for grants and rebates).

If you are nevertheless attracted making a couple of solar panels as a DIY project, it is essential that you buy the right “how to make solar panels” guide / kit.  The good ones are excellent but the poor ones leave too many questions unanswered and fail to pay sufficient attention to safety.  Please take a look at our review of the leading “how to” manuals/guides.

Exceptional Bargains

However, during all this searching I did find a couple of well hidden real bargains on the Amazon site that are quite exceptional.  I readily admit that I had not expected to find factory made solar panels this cheap.  These panels are priced very competitively and merit your serious consideration:

We stated above that 3000 watts of commercially supplied solar panels will typically cost $15,000 – $22,500. However, if you were to use the Sunwatts 120 panels from Amazon, the cost for 3000 watts of solar panels will be 25 x £358 = $8950, which really is an amazingly low price.  This panel has UL 1703 and IEC 61215 certification.

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Conclusion

Solar panels are a very attractive alternative to burning fossil fuels and although they are still quite expensive for many of us, you can reduce the cost of solar panels by shopping around for the bargains.

Recommendation.  Buy the Sunwatts 120 watt. This Solar Panel is being sold on Amazon for $358 per panel, equivalent to 2 x 60 watt panels ($179 for 60 watts).  This is a seriously low price.

If you really want to make a couple of solar panels yourself expect to pay around $150 – $175 for materials per panel.  Make sure you choose the best guide/manuals/videos.  Our review recommends HomeMadeEnergy as the best all round package.

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Electric Solar Panels Cost and Benefit

Counting the Cost!

When folk look to creating their own solar panel home, even the committed environmentalist wants to know how much solar panels cost to install and will they pay for themselves. We may care a lot about our planet, but few of us can make this sort of investment in our solar panel home without being assured of the economic viability. This is also an area where some suppliers seem rather cagey and one suspects, are more than a little economical with the truth.

So let’s have a look at what electric solar panels cost and the expected payback. Rather than talk about vague averages, likely costs and possible savings, this article refers to real life examples presented by ReadySolar in September 2007.

Sizing and Selecting an Electric Solar Panels System

Before looking at what solar panels cost, let us go through the steps for selecting electric solar panels and creating your solar panel home:

1.  Find out if your home is a good candidate for installing electric solar panels. General guidelines are:

• your electric bill needs to be at least $75 a month – the higher the better. You will get the biggest benefit if you are on a tiered electricity tariff.
• the location of the electric solar panels should be south facing or between SE and SW. They can be sited in your yard if your roof is unsuitable.
• the electric solar panels need to be un-shaded for at least 4 hours a day, the longer the better. If there is a lot of shade, it is better to have a smaller panel that avoids the shade, rather than a bigger one that is partly in the shade.

2.  Set your budget and calculate the space available for your electric solar panels. These factors really determine how big your system can be.

3.  Evaluate the various solar ppower companies.  Get quotes, visit their previous installations, talk to the home owners they have worked for.  Be clear what your solar panels will cost and find out if there are any hidden extras.  Finally select the company that will carry out the work for you.

4.  Once you have chosen your contractor, arrange finance (if required).

5.  Get the whole electric solar panels system installed and working. This should take from 1 to 2 weeks.

6.  Once your solar panel home is working, submit your paperwork to get the financial rebate and tax credits.  These can reduce what your solar panels cost by a 1/3 or more, depending on where you live.

Solar Panels Cost and Benefits

Based upon real life examples (2007 prices) from California

These real life examples give a good indication of what solar panels cost and the expected return on investment.  You can see from these real world examples that homes that are on a tiered tariff and are high monthly consumers of electricity, can really benefit from electric solar panels. Homeowner C even makes a $14 a month profit after making the finance payment, pretty cool!

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