What impacts the cost of a solar panels?
The sticker price a solar installation charges you is based on many factors. The cost of solar installations is a unique product; it greatly depends on your own circumstances, as well as your usage of power and other things. The following are some of the most important considerations that may and do affect the price of solar panels for your home:
System size
The size of the system you buy is perhaps the most noticeable and important aspect in the cost of a solar panel installation. Simple enough: larger systems with more panels will be more expensive than smaller systems with fewer panels (and lower energy output). A larger system has a lower average $/W, but there is also that Costco-like link between system size and price. Like when you buy food in bulk, the overall cost is greater but the cost per unit is cheaper. Following are the $/W results that EnergySage Marketplace data indicates for various system size buckets and what those results would be for a complete system:
Cost of solar panels by system size
NOTE: The price per watt in this table is the typical cost for that range of system sizes, i.e. $3.28 is the typical price per watt for systems ranging from 2 kW to 2.99 kW.
These costs indicate the price of a solar energy system before and after the federal solar tax credit, which saves you 26%, has been taken into account. You may be able to save more money by taking advantage of rebates and other tax advantages provided by some states, local governments, and utilities.
Keep in mind that larger solar power systems may cost more up front, but they will certainly end up saving you more in the long term. You might have to pay more up front if you build a 10 kW solar energy system that supplies all of your power needs, but you’ll be reducing a sizable monthly expenditure – your utility bill – and saving more money as a consequence. A solar panel system that may completely offset your power cost and optimize your solar savings is now even easier to purchase thanks to the rising prevalence of zero-down, low-interest solar loans.
Location
The cost of installing solar panels varies by region, mostly by state. Although the pricing variation is not very large and most regional variations are really caused by variations in system sizes and incentives, it is nevertheless important to keep an eye on.
In order to understand the costs of solar panel systems by state, we have examined quotation data from our solar marketplace. However, as we previously stated, system sizes tend to be higher in places with cheaper prices, so comparing a 10 kW system in Florida to a 10 kW system in Massachusetts isn’t necessarily fair. Their energy requirements are simply too dissimilar.
