In 2010 solar panels cost about 2 50 per watt but by early 2017 that had fallen to just 0 38 per watt.
Solar panel price trend graph 2017.
Solar as an economic engine.
The 392 megawatt california ivanpah plant developed by.
Solar companies can typically get a single solar panel at a price of 0 75 per watt.
The average price per watt dropped drastically for solar cells in the decades leading up to 2017.
Changes in solar panel cost over time can be explained by swanson s law which states that the price of solar pv modules decreases by about 20 percent for every doubling in global solar capacity the law is named after richard swanson founder of high.
The price decreases over the past ten years are a major reason why homeowners are increasingly interested in installing solar panels.
As of fall 2019 nearly 250 000 americans work in solar more than double the number in 2012 at more than 10 000 companies in every u s.
However if a homeowner is trying to buy one or two panels on their own for a small diy project they will likely pay closer to 1 per watt.
While in 1977 prices for crystalline silicon cells were about 77 per watt average spot prices in august 2018 were as low as 0 13 per watt or nearly 600 times less than forty years ago.
In 2019 the solar industry generated 18 7 billion of investment in the american economy.