Residential Solar PV Price Index – March 2018

Average solar system prices dipped slightly between February and March 2018 – coming in at about $1.38 per watt as opposed to $1.40/W last month – according to the most recent data from Solar Choice’s installer network database. While average prices decreased for most capital cities, Sydney and Canberra saw slight increases, due in part to changes in the composition of the Solar Choice installer network as well as pricing updates from installers included in previous months.

For March 2018, 5kW systems are coming in at about $5,800 out-of-pocket on average for a basic system, while ‘premium’ and microinverter versions of a similarly sized system were coming in at about $8,800 and $6,900, respectively.

Average solar PV system prices for March 2018 [Primary Offerings]

Primary offerings are the default (and most popular) type of systems that retailers and installers display on Solar Choice’s Solar Quote Comparisons (screenshot below). They are generally the lowest-price offer from a particular installer.

Prices in the table below include both the up-front incentive available for small-scale systems through the Renewable Energy Target (STCs) and GST – they represent the total out-of-pocket cost of the system to the customer. We’ve left fields blank where there were only a small number of price points available in our database (usually fewer than 3).

Prices for each system size are colour-coded. (Dark red for highest, dark green for lowest, yellow/orange for in between).

List of products used in primary offerings

Please note that the below list is in alphabetical order and does not denote panel-inverter pairings in installer offerings.

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Solar system prices for March 2018: $/W medians, highs & lows

This table includes data for primary, premium & microinverter systems. (Click to enlarge.)

Prices above are colour-coded across highs, lows & medians for all cities and system sizes. (Dark red for highest, dark green for lowest, yellow for middle. Cells are grey where only a small set of data points was available. Please note that premium and microinverter options are not colour-coded.)

Premium solar system offerings for March 2018

Solar installers & retailers also upload pricing for ‘premium’ solar system offerings on the Solar Choice portal; these offers can then be viewed by Solar Choice customers. The definition of premium is not hard and fast, and usually comes down to the installer’s selection of components. Oftentimes, premium offers will consist of the company’s standard panel offering but a different brand of inverter – but many installers may offer a higher-end brand of panel as well.

It’s important to note that the range of products used in these systems will vary greatly, and that not all premium systems are equal in their quality; in fact, one company’s premium system may be another company’s primary offering. Be sure to do your research into the brands being offered before making your decision.

Prices in the tables below include both the up-front incentive available for small-scale systems through the Renewable Energy Target (STCs) and GST – they represent the total out-of-pocket cost of the system to the customer. We’ve left fields blank where there were only a small number of price points available in our database (usually fewer than 3).

Prices for each system size are colour-coded. (Dark red for highest, dark green for lowest, yellow/orange for in between).

List of products used in premium offerings

Please note that the below list is in alphabetical order and does not denote panel-inverter pairings in installer offerings. Also note that a premium offer may differ from an installer’s primary offer in a number of ways – such as the inclusion of a higher-end inverter, higher-end solar panels, or both.

Microinverter solar system offerings for March 2018

Microinverter systems are generally better equipped to handle shading issues and multiple roof orientations than standard, central/string inverter systems. You can read more about microinverters (and whether they’re right for your home) in this article.

We also point out that microinverter systems sometimes compete with premium systems even where shading/roof orientations are not an issue, as microinverters are generally seen as high-end product.

Prices in the tables below include both the up-front incentive available for small-scale systems through the Renewable Energy Target (STCs) and GST – they represent the total out-of-pocket cost of the system to the customer. We’ve left fields blank where there were only a small number of price points available in our database (usually fewer than 3).

Prices for each system size are colour-coded. (Dark red for highest, dark green for lowest, yellow/orange for in between).

List of products used in microinverter offerings

Please note that the below list is in alphabetical order and does not denote panel-inverter pairings in installer offerings. We also note that Enphase’s microinverters comprise the vast majority of microinverter offerings (roughly 90%).

Also note that strictly speaking SolarEdge systems do not include microinverters, but rather power optimisers. However, they are often lumped in with microinverters because of the fact that they are similarly adept at mitigating the impact of shading and multiple roof orientations.

Historic solar PV system prices (since August 2012)

The historic pricing in the tables below do not reflect prices for Darwin, NT. See ‘About this data’ footnote below for a more detailed description of where this data comes from and what it represents.

We have and will continue to included the 1.5kW solar system graph for the sake of posterity, even as we’ve removed them from the ‘All system sizes’ graph below and other tables in this article.

Historic Solar PV Price Index Trend (All primary system sizes, $/W)

The chart below provides an at-a-glance look at solar PV system pricing trends since August 2012. Data points are the average of average $/W for popular system sizes (Only 1.5kW-5kW from Aug 2012 to Nov 2013, then also including 10kW from Dec 2013, with 1.5kW dropped and added 7kW from November 2017.)

(N.b. Please see note about ‘Solar Choice Discount’ in January 2016 edition of the PV Price Index.)

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About this data

Tables and charts included in this article were compiled using data from Solar Choice’s installer network database, which contains regularly-updated pricing and product details from over 100 solar installation companies across Australia. Prices do not ordinarily incorporate meter installation fees or additional costs for difficult installations. Pricing data from Darwin is not included any of the charts showing historic trends.

© 2018 Solar Choice Pty Ltd

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Jeff Sykes

CEO at Solar Choice

Jeff has consulted on over 20MW of commercial solar projects, ranging from SMEs to ASX top 100 companies. Jeff has also provided independent advice to 100s of residential solar, battery and EV charging customers across every state in Australia. He holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and is an expert in business strategy and financial analysis.

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