Competition drives down solar costs by almost 14% despite stable wholesale prices.
The average cost of a residential solar system in America has fallen by almost $1.00 per watt over the last twelve months from $4.41 per watt in September 2013 to $3.76 per watt in October 2014.
According to data collected by leading solar industry sites Solar-Estimate.org and SolarPanelTalk the average cost of installing solar panels on your home has fallen by 14% in the last year.
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Approximately 200 solar installers contribute to this estimator by entering into the site the cost per watt they charge on average for solar systems between the size of 1kw and 10kw. This gives Solar Estimate a unique vantage point from which to watch solar price movements.
This data is then cross referenced with solar price data entered by consumers into the leading solar discussion forum website Solar Panel Talk . Consumers enter quotes they receive from solar installers into this site to ask other members of the forum to advise them as to whether or not they have been offered a good deal.
"We continue to see a great disparity in pricing between states where solar incentives have created high demand and states where lower incentives or lower power costs mean lower demand. In the states with low demand prices are significantly higher as installers in these states do not have economies of scale" ; remarked Jamie Lakes , president of Denver based website Solar Reviews the owner of the Solar-Estimate.org and the SolarPanelTalk websites.
Mr Lakes commented further that, "the drop in retail prices has been surprising given that we have had stable wholesale prices followed by the imposition of tariffs on panels made with Chinese and Taiwanese cells".
The fall in prices appears to be driven by increasing economies of scale amongst solar installers along with the effects of increasing competition.
One continuing trend is that the prices charged for solar systems still vary significantly depending on the brand of the solar panel and also whether the quote is using a single string inverter or microinverters.
Contact: Jamie Lakes ,
President, Solar Investments Inc
Phone: (720) 353 8136
Email: Jamie@solarreviews.com
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