Solar Prices Fell 10-20 Percent in 2014, with Trend Continuing in 2015
This marked the fifth consecutive year of significant price reductions
BERKELEY, Calif. — The installed price of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States continues to fall significantly. This is according to the latest edition of Tracking the Sun, an annual PV cost tracking report produced by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
Installed prices for residential and small nonresidential systems completed in 2014 were $0.40-per-watt (W) lower, and prices for large nonresidential systems were $0.70/W lower, than in the prior year. “This marked the fifth consecutive year of significant price reductions for distributed PV systems in the U.S.,” said Galen Barbose of LBNL’s Electricity Markets and Policy Group, the report’s lead author. In the first six months of 2015, installed prices within a number of large state markets fell by an additional $0.20 to $0.50/W, or 6 to 13 percent, maintaining the steady pace of solar price declines in recent years.