We take a look at the trend for solar panel prices from 2006. What we see is a 70% reduction in the prices for consumers from 2006 to 2014.
Previous review: Prices in 2011
Back in 2011 we took a look at the trend for solar panel prices from 2006 to 2011. This review found that prices had dropped by over 50% during this period. This article updates that data with solar panel prices over the last 3 years.
Household Costs, Not Manufacturer Costs
Like the previous review, we’ve looked at the end-customer prices for solar installations. So we’ve included not only the solar panels but also all the other costs like the mounting rails, inverter, cables, installation costs and installer profit margin.
We’ve also focused on roof-mounted systems of up to 10kW installed power. As we mentioned in a previous blog, this size covers household installations. Commercial installations are much bigger – over 1,000kW installed power.
Focus on Germany
Germany is a good country to look at for cost information for two reasons. Firstly, the market is huge: Germany accounts for around half of all solar installed power globally. The second reason is that the German Solar Industry Association (called BSW) is very transparent about prices and installations.
8 Year Solar Installation Price Trend
The chart shows a substantial drop in prices. In the previous article the data stopped in 2011 and the installed price in Q2 2011 was €2.42 per kW – a 50% reduction from 2006. Since 2011 the prices have dropped further. It’s clear from the chart that the rate of decrease has slowed. However the Q1 2014 installation price at €1.64 per kW is a further 32% reduction from 2011 and a 67% reduction from 2006.
At €1.64 per kW a typical 4kW system would cost a household €6,560 to install – about £5,400 using currency data from xe.com.
An important note is that the German market is much more developed than the UK market so you are unlikely to get prices as keen as this in the UK. But prices continue to fall – and that’s great news for households.
