Anyone with a ‘green conscience’ has considered installing solar panels on their home.  It’s a great way to do something for the planet and save some money at the same time.  But the question that invariably comes up is ‘How much do solar panel systems cost?’  We can help answer that question with a few rules of thumb that will guide you to getting on board with the clean power revolution.

Equipment Costs

Solar panel systems come in all shapes and sizes.  There are literally hundreds of solar panel systems out there, and nearly every one of them is custom built for its application.  But we can make some generalizations about systems for households, since this is one of the most common installations.

The solar panels themselves, probably the solar panel systems most integral part, cost about $3-$4 per watt.  That means if you decide you want a 4,000 watt (W) system (or a 4 kilowatt (kW) system), the panels would cost about:

            $3/W x 4,000W = $12,000

Of course you can’t just throw up some panels and expect to draw electricity.  You need wiring, mounting, and an inverter, which changes the DC power you get from the panels to AC power that your house uses.  These generally add about a $1 per watt to the total.  So, taking our example from above:

            $1/W x 4,000W =  $4,000

So, a good rule of thumb is $4 per watt for the equipment that makes up your solar panel systems.  Of course this can vary by the size of installation (the larger the project, the lower the price per watt), your location (if you live in a remote area you may pay more for transportation), and the type of panels needed (some situations require higher voltage or specially-built panels).

Installation Costs

So you have solar panels, now you need to actually to put them up.  Chances are you are not an electrician or roofer and you’d rather not spend your weekend on a ladder.  So how much can you expect to pay to install solar panel systems?

Installers will charge more based on how difficult the installation is.  For instance, a homeowner that has a three story, steeply pitched roof will pay far more than a single story flat-roof homeowner.  Here again we have some rules of thumb that will help you determine a budget.

Solar panel systems installers generally charge about $4-$5 per watt for installation.  This covers labor, design of the system, insurance, licenses, and equipment needed.  Continuing our example from above:

            $4/W x 4,000 = $16,000

So, we can reasonably assume that $8 per watt ($4 for equipment and $4 for labor) would get us pretty darn close to a budget for a system.  Budgeting $9 per watt would probably cover unforeseen issues that frequently arise and give you a nice cushion.

The good news is that these prices are going down.  There are more solar companies than ever now, driving down installation costs for your solar panel systems.  With the global economic slowdown and overall solar panel systems supply levels increasing, solar panels are actually coming down in price too. 

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Guest author, Kriss Bergethon is a writer and solar expert from Colorado.  For more information on solar panel systems, solar power and solar panels, please click the text link to visit his website.

Pic via spheralsolar.com

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