subject: Cost Of Solar Panels And Effective Cost Of Solar Power [print this page] The cost of solar panels has seen a decline over the years with increasing use and effective production owing to the advanced research and application of use of solar energy. There are many local and multinational companies selling solar panels including some big names. Some of them are Helios Solar Works, Astroergy, Eoplly, LG, SolarWorld, Sharp, Sanyo, CanadianSolar, PowerUp, UniSolar, etc.
You will find solar panels ranging from capacity of 10 watts to 250 watts or even 285 watts. Prices for the panels range from approximately $50 for a 10W panel to $400 to $500+ for 250W and more capacity solar panels. Most of the manufactures provide a 10 year warranty of 97% output and 25years warranty of 80% output.
With costs coming down use of solar power is becoming increasingly popular with masses. Two main reasons for this are the ever increasing prices of the utility power and growing concern about the environment. Still many feel the pinch when it comes to the shelling out a big amount at one time. What holds them back is the fear of high cost of solar panels and their installation. But here they miss the point regarding the effective cost of production of solar power.
By effective cost I mean, cost of solar power production considering the factors like benefits of incentives provided by the state and federal government and the amount of money saved over the years of life of the installed solar panel by way of reduced utility bills. Most solar panel manufacturers offer a warranty of 25 years, but life span of solar panels is usually much higher. When we talk about incentives, the federal government provides a tax credit of 30% on the total cost of installed solar system. Above this some of the state governments also give tax credit up to 35%on the total cost.
Additionally the cost of solar power also depends on the scale of production. The cost of solar power is gauged in terms of per watt of power. Thus the cost of solar power would vary depending on the size of solar panel installed. Thus price per watt would widely vary for a small 2KW solar system from that of 1000 KW solar system. Thus the initial investment made by you in terms of the cost of solar panels can be easily recovered by way of tax credits and savings on utility bills in no matter of time.
