The aggressiveness of the price drops on solar is pretty amazing. I just lost one of the inverters on my grid-tie system after it had run trouble free for 13 years. So we're looking at the first "major" repair to the system I installed in 2003. And in 2003 my 5.2kW of panels on my roof cost $38,000 before subsidies and $19,000 after. 28 panels, two 2.5kW inverters, net about 4.2kW of generation.
I priced out replacing all the panels (now I can do in 10 panels what used to take 28) and the inverters with a single 5kW inverter, $7,000. My price, no subsidies. That is over 80% reduction in cost, over 13 years, of the list price of $40K.
And that is why it is a huge problem for the power companies, it makes less sense now to not have panels on your roof.
I priced out replacing all the panels (now I can do in 10 panels what used to take 28) and the inverters with a single 5kW inverter, $7,000. My price, no subsidies. That is over 80% reduction in cost, over 13 years, of the list price of $40K.
And that is why it is a huge problem for the power companies, it makes less sense now to not have panels on your roof.