America Pays More For Solar Panels, Low Costs Abroad

The world is relatively big.  Now, it's no Jupiter.  That's a big planet.  There are other big planets.  Isn't the topic of the size of planets just simply the most exciting question to propose ever? If you answered yes, then we are probably having the same kind of day.  Now, back to planet size.  The Earth is pretty big, in comparison to a head of cabbage, it's massive.  Some people call money cabbage, and we all want to save and make that cabbage.  It seems that due to falling costs of solar across the planet, people from all over this planet we call Earth, are making cabbage from their solar panel installations.  That is pretty cool.   

America it appears, though, is making smaller portions of cabbage than many other countries and citizens of the planet called Earth when it comes to solar panel energy costs.  American customers are being priced over two times higher for solar that is the typical consumer overseas. That’s USD $10,000 added for a typical 5-kilowatt domestic solar system. The panels are equivalent, so what on earth happening here? 

It's the good ole government again, or otherwise known as red tape.  Hereabouts in the nation of high technology influence and free-market activity, American regulation has more than duplicated the cost of solar.

This regulation comes in three un-American pretenses: permitting, law and tariffs, collectively they are destroying the U.S. domestic solar market. Improving these regulations, principally at the local and state level, is the most significant opportunity for U.S. solar policy in 2018.

Australia vs. the U.S. Solar Cost

To highlight the possibilities across the globe, let’s glance at Australia, where approximately 2 million solar systems have been triumphantly and carefully installed.

As of the beginning of December, installed prices in the central Australian markets remained at $1.34 per watt, contrasted to $3.25 per watt in the U.S. What does that discord come from?

In Australia, there is no permitting method. You forward your application for interconnection online and connect it. There is a relative mass of worthless work needed to satisfy modern city-level bureaucracy in the U.S., which adds among two and six months to delivery time and 47 cents per watt of cost immediately to the installed system. That’s higher than the price of the panels!

Permitting Solar

Codes are killers too. The Australian Clean Energy Council approves all installers, supports the products, and runs a voluntary code of conduct, which enables businesses to market their dedication to best method, and customers to chose the soundest installers. 

However, the U.S. National Electrical Code commands the most significant practice that more than doubles the installation time concerning Australia and adds incremental material expense.  All of this together is adding 49 cents per watt to the price of solar. There is no discernable variation in the condition and safety of solar installations abroad relative to the U.S.

If you want to join the solar revolution, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years.

For more information about solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for guides and articles.