Guide to Solar PV Costs and Benefits

Solar PV Cost per kWp

You have decided to get some solar PV for your club, school, community centre, home, farm or business? It’s a great decision.

In Ireland, you can have a solar PV system installed for between €1,500 and €2,000 per kWp (before VAT is applied). Prices vary but that’s the guideline estimate from the SEAI website.

The more you install, the cheaper the price per kiloWatt.

Other European countries, will have slightly differing cost for a variety of reasons including market size, available grant supports and regulatory framework.

In Germany, for example, a recent Photovoltaics Report suggests €1,850 per kWp as the higher end of the price scale. Again, the more kilowatts you install the cheaper the installation becomes per kWp.

How much Solar PV to Install

The overall installation cost depends on how much solar PV you need to install in kiloWattspeak.

The system needs to be correctly sized for your individual needs.

This can be done with a “load analysis“, or more usually by checking your annual usage in kiloWatthours from your utility bill. An engineer should then design your solar PV system to meet your electricity needs.

Let’s take for example a small household of 2 or 3 people currently using in the region of 3,000 kWh per annum. In this case, 3 kWp of solar PV could meet most of your household needs.

A larger household, or one with an Electric Vehicle, will require a larger system to meet the household needs.

Prices do change and are changing. You should keep this in mind.

The wholesale price of silicon is increasing currently and will have a direct impact on the price of solar panels globally.

Overall cost of a Solar PV system

With these guideline prices you can estimate how much you want to pay for any size system.

Select the system size that is correct for your needs and use the multipliers given here to estimate how much you want to pay for your solar PV system.

You can use our solar electricity estimator to determine how much electricity a properly installed solar PV system should produce at your location.