Market Trends Shift As Solar Panel Typical Costs Come Down

It's relatively common in the world market of goods and services, once the novelty of something wears off, the demand starts to decrease as well. That’s one of the key reasons behind the 12% decrease in solar system costs from 2015 to 2016 alone. Also, more manufacturers across the globe are producing solar panels, also contributing to the price drop. It’s not so much of the original thing that it was just five years ago to have solar panels installed at your home anymore. What does this suggest for you, the homeowner? Zero but good! Prices are falling, incentives are significant, and you’re able to lower your electric bill. But, if you’ve been priced at a different rate than the averages listed above, there’s a good reason. These numbers are just averages and can vary because of many factors. Types of solar financial incentives change state-by-state. And the size of the system you purchase and need for your home will also alter the price. Adding one more watt to your system (moving from a 5 kW system to a 6 kW system) can raise the common price of the system from $12,500 to $15,000. And doubling the size of your system from 5 kW to 10 kW will improve your prices to about $25,000 to have the system installed.

What Are You Getting With Your Solar Panels?

What exactly are you buying when you get solar panels?

In short, dollar savings and environmental gains. If you install a residential solar system in your house, you’ll drastically decrease your carbon footprint, save thousands of dollars on your power bill over the lifetime of the system (which equates to a usual 25 years), raise your property value, and delivering a significant return on investment (well over 100%). Nationwide energy data indicate, at the time of this writing, that the average payback period (when savings outweigh costs) for installation of a residential solar system is approximately five years. In some states, with extraordinarily high energy prices (e.g., Hawaii), the Department of Energy calculates a cost savings of over $60,000 in 20 years. How about the value of your residence? It’s been determined that installing solar panels will increase your property value. But, whereby and why? According to the U.S. Department of Energy, property values rise $20 for every $1 of utility savings per year. With a 5 kW unit installed in your residence, you could easily increase the value of your residence by at least $20,000.

Solar Panel Costs Explained

Consider we report on the average price of installing a solar system in your home costs $15,000, how much is going to the total and how much is going to the installation labor, and how much is going to other points? Let’s take a glimpse.

Solar panels take up about 30% of the total cost for household solar systems. And, depending on the variety of solar panel you get, the prices may vary widely. But, that doesn’t indicate that the best quality solar panels are the most cost-effective. A universal way of watching at price is to determine the cost per watt. Most solar panels are sold for approximately $0.70 per watt if bought in bulk. Most homeowners are spending about $1.5 per watt, a 50% drop from just a couple of years ago!

Curious about solar hard costs vs. soft costs near you?  We here at HahaSmart get serious about connecting you with local installers that can bring your total cost of solar panel installations down to rock bottom levels.

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