In Texas, Oil Is Big But Solar Is Cheap [View all]

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/19/2492781/the-installation-prices-for-residential-solar-in-the-nation-can-be-found-in-texas/

Despite foot-dragging by the state’s leadership on solar policies, residential solar installation prices recently hit $3.90 per watt in Texas, lower than anywhere else in the nation. It’s part of a nationwide plunge in installation prices for the smaller systems — generally 10 kilowatts or less — used for individual homes. According to a new report out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, that national price fell from around $12 per watt in 1998 to $5.30 per watt in 2012.

Large utility-scale solar systems saw a similar plunge in installation price, hitting $4.60 per watt in 2012. But it’s the small, distributed residential systems that could fundamentally remake the electricity market in America, and have been a large part of the growing pro-solar coalitions between environmentalists and the Tea Party.
Granted, residential solar is still a relatively small slice of national capacity, but it’s also been the least sensitive to seasonality and market volatility.

And according to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory report, of all the states with measurable observations of 15 or more, Texas clocked in with the lowest median price of $3.90 per watt.

CREDIT: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory & US Dept. of Energy
Garrett Gordy, the owner of Texas Solar Outfitters in Houston, told the Houston Chronicle that he’s sold 10-kilowatt systems for as low as $3.60 per watt. At that price, after accounting for various tax incentives, such a system would pay for itself within 12 years.

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