What do people in pay
for solar?
The price of
a solar system is expressed as price-per-Watt.
This is the invoice cost of a system, including panels,
installation, racking, inverters, and other equipment, divided
by the power output of the system in Watts. For example, if a
system with 6,000 Watts of solar panels has an invoice price of
$18,000, the price-per-Watt would be $3.00. This does not
include any incentives, but our dataset does include
sales taxes. Many states have sales tax exemptions for solar;
this is acccounted for in the data.
Median prices vary significantly between states,
from a low of $2.80/Watt in Wisconsin to a high of $4.40 in
Rhode Island. The median is the middle price in our data, but
different installers and equipment choices will affect the price
considerably.
Use the menu below to view the median, low
(20th percentile), or
high (80th percentile) prices for your state.
Median
price
per
Watt
|
Gross system
price includes applicable sales
taxes
|
|
Federal
tax credit of 30%
|
deduction
|
Net system
price: |
|
|
Low price per
Watt |
Median price per
Watt
|
High price per
Watt |
Gross system price (includes
applicable sales
taxes) |
|
|
|
Federal tax credit of 30% deduction
|
|
|
|
Net system
price: |
|
|
|
Important note about tax credits: Federal or
state solar tax credits don’t reduce the invoice price of your
system. Instead, you wait until you file your taxes, then use
the
credit to reduce the amount of tax you owe. It’s possible that
your solar credit will be larger than the tax you owe. Don’t
worry: the federal credit can be rolled over to following years
until it’s used up. State tax credits can usually be rolled over
too, although some states have a limit on the number of years
that excess credit can be carried forward.
These price estimates are based on research from the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, which compiles cost data from
state
agencies, utility companies, and organizations that administer
solar rebate programs.
How much should you expect to pay? That depends
on
your installer, the equipment you select, and features of your
home
that might make an installation more or less difficult. The
price
you are quoted from installers will probably fall between these
ranges, but they might not. Always get multiple quotes.