Arizona isn’t lacking desert landscape and sunlight. The state is best known for the Grand Canyon, but it also has other national parks such as the Petrified Forest National Park, Saguaro National Park, and Monument Valley.

Luckily for the national parks in the state has some favorable state-sponsored solar incentives that have helped homeowners in Arizona go solar.

Solar Panels in Arizona

The average cost of solar panels in Arizona will range from $12,240 to $16,560. On a cost per watt basis, a solar panel installation in Arizona ranges in price from $2.45 to $3.31.

Another way to calculate that potential solar power customers have to consider is the solar panels payback period. This term is going to tell us at what time you are going to recover your initial investment through electricity savings from your solar power system.

Another choice that solar power shoppers will have to face is how to pay for a solar power system. Luckily, there are going to be a lot of financial options that are available to ensure the customer can afford solar panel installations. A cash purchase is one of a common method to pay for solar panel installation and often leads to the most long-term value for your money. If you decide that buying a solar power system upfront isn’t for you, solar loans and a solar lease/PPAs are available to help finance a solar power system.

The table below lists the cost of solar panels in Arizona’s most prominent counties:

Cost of Solar Panels in Arizona for a 5 kW Solar Power System

Facts About Solar Panels in Arizona

Arizona is filled with sunshine and tons of homeowners are taking advantage of it. Arizona comes in the third place when it comes to national solar power rankings, with 3,913 megawatts of solar power installed, which is enough solar power to provides 578,323 homes with power. The state currently gets 6.62% of its electricity from solar power.

In the state of Arizona, 7,524 jobs were created in the solar power industry. There are currently 571 solar companies in the state (87 solar manufacturers, 268 solar installers/developers, and 216 other jobs). The state has invested $11,620.72 million into solar power. There are currently 147,451 solar panel installations that are life in Arizona and it’s projected to grow by 2,623 MW over the next 5 years, giving the state a new ranking of 9th place.

Notable Solar Panel Installations in Arizona

- The concentrated solar power project, called Solana, the capacity to generate 250 MW of solar power, which is enough to power over 65,000 homes in Arizona.

- Several large retailers have installed solar power systems, which includes Albertsons, Body Sculpting Center and Bookmans Exchange, and Macy’s. Macy’s has installed one of the largest solar panels installations with 3 MW of solar power capacity at their location in Goodyear.

- Mesquite Solar 2 in Tonopah is another one of the largest solar panel installations in Arizona. The solar panel installation in Arizona is 100 MW and was completed in 2015, and this solar power project alone has can generate enough electric capacity to power more than 14,995 homes.

Solar Incentives in Arizona

Arizona is becoming more well known for its solar incentives and programs. The state has some of the best solar incentives in the country.

The federal Investment Tax Credit has been one of the most reliable solar incentives across the U.S. This solar incentive is going to let you deduct 26 percent of the cost of solar panels from your federal taxes. An example, a solar panel installation that costs $15,000 out of pocket will qualify for a tax deduction of $3,900. This solar incentive is going to last until the end of 2020 - the tax credit will decrease to 22% for 2021 before ending completely in 2022 for residential solar panel installations. Arizona also has additional solar incentives when it comes to installing solar panels.