Residential solar prices are falling lower than ever before, said marketplace operator EnergySage in its biannual solar and storage marketplace report.
The median quoted price on its platform reached $2.50 per watt in the second half of 2024, falling 6.4% from the first half of 2024. Quotes averaged over $3.75 per watt on the platform ten years ago in late 2014.
“Heading into 2025, solar and battery prices had never been lower on the EnergySage Marketplace, and for homeowners, that means more affordable and accessible clean energy solutions,” said Emily Walker, director of content and insights, EnergySage.
For an 11.5 kW system, the average cost per watt equates to a system cost of $28,750 before incentives. The federal solar Investment Tax Credit covers 30% of installed system costs, so after incentives this is $20,125. Many states also have incentive programs, which can be found on an incentives and programs database maintained by the NC Clean Energy Technology Center.
EnergySage said the lower quoted installation prices largely came from lower equipment costs. Wood Mackenzie reported solar panel prices dropped 30% year-over-year in 2024.
Prices may have also lowered due to softened demand, said EnergySage. Residential solar installations declined 31% in 2024. This is “driven by high interest rates, relatively stable residential electricity prices, and California’s Net Billing Tariff,” said the report.
The report also noted a distinct rise in quotes that included battery energy storage with their solar project. Battery attachment was high in the top three largest rooftop solar markets, including California (79% battery attachment rate), Florida (45%) and Texas (68%). Nationwide, battery attachment reached the highest-ever 45% of projects on the platform in the second half of 2024.
The Tesla Powerwall 3 was the most-quoted battery on the platform in 2024. The top three most-quoted inverter brands in the second half of 2024 were Enphase, Tesla and SolarEdge. It noted that Tesla inverters are not a top selected option in low energy storage attachment state markets.
“The biggest marketplace disruption came from Tesla, which grew its inverter share by 1100% year-over-year due to the popularity of the Powerwall 3,” said the report.
Tesla sells its inverters and energy storage as an integrated system averaging $926 per kWh on the platform. This is a lower energy storage cost than the national median $999 per kWh quoted on the platform, and Tesla includes its hybrid inverters, making it a low-cost system option.
However, EnergySage said in 2025 it has “seen an uptick in homeowners specifically requesting non-Tesla equipment in their quotes amidst Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s political controversy.”
“This negative brand backlash, coupled with Tesla battery supply shortages, could impact its share in our next Marketplace Report,” said the report.
As for system financing, Wood Mackenzie reported, 39% of residential solar installations were purchased with a loan in the second half of 2024, down from 57% in 2023. Wood Mackenzie said the solar third-party owned (TPO) market, which includes leases and power purchase agreements, surpassed the solar loan market for the first time in 2024. TPO projects climbed from 40% to 52% in the second half, over the 39% market share for loans.
EnergySage said there is an increased trend in low-fee, higher-interest-rate loans, which often gives homeowners the opportunity to pay loans off early or refinance to reduce the interest expense. “Low-fee” loans generally have fees of about 3% or less of the total loan, said EnergySage.
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The EnergySage data very likely underestimates the Powerwall market share, because Tesla has taught their consumers to shop from Tesla’s website, not comparison websites. Case in point: the latest earnings reports from Tesla and Enphase (2025 Q1) show that Powerwalls outsold IQ Batteries 1,000 MWh to 170MWh.