Solar Panel Costs Drop 60% In the US Since Early 2011

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The US Photograph voltaic Energy Industries Affiliation (SEIA) and GTM Evaluation not too way back launched their latest quarterly report referring to the US picture voltaic energy market. There are a ton of attention-grabbing information from the report, such as a result of the 60% worth low cost in picture voltaic panels talked about inside the title. Listed below are some report highlights:

Photograph voltaic Panel Costs Down

For one, as a result of the title above notes, picture voltaic panel costs had been 60% lower inside the second quarter (Q2) of 2013 than they’d been in early 2011. Normal picture voltaic PV system prices, on widespread, had been 40% lower, and they also had been 50% lower than widespread picture voltaic PV system prices in early 2010.

I’ve emphasised this to many, repeatedly: in case you’ve got a worth of picture voltaic from a lot of years previously caught in your head, you’re almost certainly enormously overestimating the value of picture voltaic proper now.

US Photograph voltaic Power Rising Fast

Apart from the large worth drop, one different degree worth noting is that photo voltaic vitality continues to develop strongly. Q2 was the second-biggest quarter for photo voltaic vitality progress in US historic previous, solely trailing This autumn 2012 (primarily attributable to a drive on the end of the 12 months to place in a number of picture voltaic in time to profit from 2012 tax credit score – the 4th quarter is on a regular basis the strongest of the 12 months). In full, 832 megawatts (MW) of picture voltaic had been put in in Q2 2013.

Low picture voltaic panel costs drive US photo voltaic vitality progress (picture voltaic panel costs down, progress up)

Moreover worth noting is the clear indisputable fact that full photo voltaic vitality functionality inside the US is about to surpass 10 gigawatts (10,000 MW) this 12 months. In the mean time, the nation is at 9,370. Further likely than not, the ten GW milestone shall be handed sometime this quarter.

Photograph voltaic panels put in all through the US now have ample vitality functionality to vitality as a lot as about 1.5 million widespread US properties. That’s spectacular. That’s roughly ample to vitality Philadelphia or Phoenix, the nation’s Fifth- and Sixth-largest cities.

In 2013 on the complete, about 4.4 GW of picture voltaic PV vitality functionality are projected to return again on-line, about 30% higher than in 2012. Yep, that may be a fairly large chunk of the US full. And the reason? As I wrote above, picture voltaic panel costs have dropped a whopping 60% beforehand 2.5 years or so.

Photograph voltaic Is A Good Funding – Financially, Economically, & Environmentally

In step with some analyses, the return on funding (ROI) from shopping for picture voltaic panels proper now beats the S&P 500 (on widespread) in 13 states and beats 5-year CDs (on widespread) in 43 states.

Plus, people discover that they are not solely creating wealth on these investments, nonetheless they’re moreover serving to the native climate (which we form of need to keep livable), serving to their native communities, and turning into further energy unbiased and energy secure.

Speaking of serving to the native individuals, photo voltaic vitality now employs over 120,000 people all through the US. That’s ample people to fill the cities of Athens (Georgia), Springfield (Illinois), Ann Arbor (Michigan), or Berkeley (California)… and additional. These 120,000 people are employed in 5,600 companies. Naturally, all of those stimulates native and state economies, along with the US financial system as a complete.

Why Photograph voltaic Panel Costs Have Fallen So So much

Photograph voltaic panel costs and full put in photo voltaic vitality arrange costs are down all through market segments. “Quarter-over-quarter, the nationwide widespread worth declined by 9.3% from $3.36/W to $3.05/W, whereas dropping 11.1% from $3.43/W one 12 months previously,” SEIA writes. “From Q2 2012 to Q2 2013, residential system prices fell 11.5% p.c, from $5.43/W to $4.81/W. Quarter-over-quarter, put in costs declined by 2.2% p.c. Put in prices bought right here down in most most important residential markets along with California, Arizona, and New Jersey. Non-residential system prices fell 14.7% p.c year-over-year, from $4.35/W to $3.71/W, whereas quarter-over-quarter, put in costs decreased by 5.4%. States with SREC markets, much like New Jersey and Delaware, seen very important worth declines since installers ought to proceed to keep up margins razor-thin given low SREC prices. Moreover of remember, Pennsylvania’s non-residential system prices dropped by 13% quarter-over-quarter amidst its private fledgling SREC market and a state rebate program set to expire on the end of 2013.”

Photograph voltaic panel costs

Photograph voltaic panel costs are almost certainly partly down attributable to technological and manufacturing developments. Nonetheless, the first driver of the low cost in put in picture voltaic panel costs might be merely economies of scale (as further picture voltaic panels are produced, costs come down) and market maturation (as a result of the market grows, rivals grows – driving down the price of picture voltaic – and installers get hold of economies of scale and decrease their prices).

Naturally, as picture voltaic panel costs proceed to drop, photo voltaic vitality grows even faster, which further brings down the value of picture voltaic. (Luckily, that’s pretty utterly totally different from the situation with non-renewable fossil fuels, the place bigger use of gasoline shortens present and drives costs up over time.)

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Source by Gene A. Swellyer