How much does solar REALLY cost?

This is a video on youtube.com posted by LDSreliance. I thought it was an interesting topic and decided to check out the numbers myself. It has been a long time since I purchased solar equipment and prices have fallen quite a bit. In the video it breaks down prices based on 3 systems; Small (hobby), Medium, and Large.

This equates to $2.50 per watt for the panel and $12 per watt for the system. I decided to check on amazon.com to see how prices compared:

10 Watt / 12 volt panel = $22.39

10 amp / 12 Volt charge controller = $11.99

12 Volt SLA Battery - 8 amp hours = $17.99

400 Watt / 12 Volt inverter = $23.48

I believe the wire connectors and mounts would be about $30 as stated. This means that the $120 price tag is conservative.

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This equates to $1.40 per watt for the panels and $3.20 per watt for the system. This is how the prices compared on amazon.com:

100 * 4 Watt solar panel - 12 volts = $416 ($104 each)

60 amp charge controller - 12 volts = $45

Batteries - 450 amp hours at 12 Volts = $700 ($350 each)

600 Watt sine wave inverter = $89

Wire, connectors, mounts, etc. = $100

TOTAL = $1,350

The price was a little higher than expected, especially the batteries. A better option might be to desulfate some forklift batteries and save lots of money. I explain how to do that in my wind power ebook.

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This equates to $1.00 per watt for the panels and $2.83 per watt for the system. This looks fairly close to me as well. I would probably use three of the 60 amp charge controllers at $45 a piece, for a total of $135 instead of $1,100. But, overall, I believe the video to be fairly accurate.