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Solar panel price trend graph 2017.
In 2010 solar panels cost about 2 50 per watt but by early 2017 that had fallen to just 0 38 per watt.
The average price per watt dropped drastically for solar cells in the decades leading up to 2017.
Panel prices increased about 20 in early 2018 about the same time that the us took steps to implement tariffs on imported solar panels but since then have resumed their downward trajectory.
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.
Solar companies can typically get a single solar panel at a price of 0 75 per watt.
The price decreases over the past ten years are a major reason why homeowners are increasingly interested in installing solar panels.
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.
Therefore if the solar panel output is 250 watts that single panel might cost you 187 50.
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.
Solar as an economic engine.