Installed Solar Power Prices Continue to Drop in US, Still Much More Expensive than in Germany

The installed price of solar energy in the US is continuing to decrease steadily, but is still considerably more expensive than it is throughout much of Europe, according to the most recent Tracking the Sun report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).  The installed price of solar energy in the US is continuing to decrease steadily, but is still considerably more expensive than it is throughout much of Europe, according to the most recent Tracking the Sun report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

That report — Tracking the Sun VII — utilized data from more than 300,000 different residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar installations to deduce the current installed price of solar across the US. Altogether, the sample size accounts for roughly 80% of the US grid’s total solar PV capacity through 2013.

The main takeaway from the report is best stated in its own words: “Installed prices continued their precipitous decline in 2013, falling year-over-year by $0.7/W, or 12-15% depending on system size range. Among projects installed in 2013, median installed prices were $4.7/W for systems =10 kW, $4.3/W for systems 10-100 kW, and $3.9/W for systems >100 kW.”

There are other things worth noting though, including the previously mentioned reality that, even with the price falling, solar is still far more expensive in the US than it is in most of Europe. Here are the figures on that subject from the report: “The median installed price of residential PV installations in 2013 (excluding sales/value-added tax) was just $2.1/W in Germany, $2.7/W in the United Kingdom, $2.9/W in Italy, and $4.0/W in France, compared to $4.4/W in the United States.”

Installed Solar Power Prices Continue to Drop in US, Still Much More Expensive than in Germany