Solar photovoltaic module price
- Description
Average price of solar photovoltaic modules, in US dollars per watt, adjusted for inflation.
- Data source
- IRENA (2025); IRENA (2026); Nemet (2009); Farmer and Lafond (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data
- Unit
- constant 2025 US$ per watt
- Date range
- 1975-2025
- Last updated
- 2026-10-23
- Next expected update
- 2027-10-23
- Solar photovoltaic module prices refer to the cost of the solar panel itself, and do not include installation or other system components.
- Prices are compiled from four sources: Nemet (2009) for 1975–2003, Farmer & Lafond (2016) for 2004–2009, IRENA's Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024 report for 2010–2019, and IRENA's Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025 report for 2020 onward.
- Due to limited data availability, from 2010 onward we use benchmark prices for modules sold in Europe, which IRENA reports based on data from the trading platform pvXchange. Up to 2019, we use IRENA's module prices, which are based on thin-film modules until late 2013 and on a global price index after that. IRENA has stopped publishing this index, so from 2020 we use its price for mainstream modules, which are standard crystalline silicon modules.
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- Historical prices have been adjusted for inflation using the World Bank's US GDP deflator (linked series).
Frequently asked questions
How did Our World in Data process this data?
How did Our World in Data process this data?
All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.
At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.
Notes on our processing step for this indicator
- Historical photovoltaic cost data between 1975 and 2003 has been taken from Nemet (2009), and between 2004 and 2009 from Farmer & Lafond (2016).
- From 2010 to 2019, prices come from the global module price index in IRENA's Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024 report (the 'Thin film a-Si/u-Si or Global Price Index (from Q4 2013)' series), based on pvXchange benchmarks for modules sold in Europe. IRENA dropped this index from its later reports.
- From 2020 onward, prices come from the 'Mainstream' module series in IRENA's Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025 report, also based on pvXchange benchmarks for modules sold in Europe. Between 2020 and 2023, the two series differ by less than 20%, so we join them without rescaling either one.
- Prices from Nemet (2009), Farmer & Lafond (2016), and IRENA's global price index have been converted to 2025 US$ using the US GDP deflator (linked series), to account for the effects of inflation. The deflator data is available from the World Bank World Development Indicators.
Data sources
IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024
IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024
IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024. International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi (2025).IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025
IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025
IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025. International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi (2026).Nemet – Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies
Nemet – Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies
Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies, Energy Policy 37(3): 825-835, by Nemet, G. F. (2009), obtained via the Performance Curve Database.Farmer and Lafond – How predictable is technological progress?
Farmer and Lafond – How predictable is technological progress?
How predictable is technological progress? J. D. Farmer & F. Lafond, Research Policy Volume 45, Issue 3, April 2016, Pages 647-665.
The data are mostly taken from the Santa-Fe Performance Curve DataBase. The database has been constructed from personal communications and from Colpier and Cornland (2002), Goldemberg et al. (2004), Lieberman (1984), Lipman and Sperling (1999), Zhao (1999), McDonald and Schrattenholzer (2001), Neij et al. (2003), Moore (2006), Nemet (2006), Schilling and Esmundo (2009). The data on photovoltaic prices has been collected from public releases of Strategies Unlimited, Navigant and SPV Market Research. The data on nuclear energy is from Koomey and Hultman (2007) and Cooper (2009). The DNA sequencing data is from Wetterstrand (2015) (cost per human-size genome), and for each year the last available month (September for 2001-2002 and October afterwards) was taken and corrected for inflation using the US GDP deflator.How to cite
How to cite this page
How to cite this page
To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:
“Data Page: Solar photovoltaic module price”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser (2023) - “Energy”. Data adapted from IRENA, Nemet, Farmer and Lafond. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261028-121618/grapher/solar-pv-prices.html [online resource] (archived on October 28, 2026).How to cite this data
How to cite this data
If you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:
IRENA (2025) and other sources – with major processing by Our World in DataFull citation
IRENA (2025); IRENA (2026); Nemet (2009); Farmer and Lafond (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Solar photovoltaic module price” [dataset]. IRENA, “Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024”; IRENA, “Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2025”; Nemet, “Interim monitoring of cost dynamics for publicly supported energy technologies”; Farmer and Lafond, “How predictable is technological progress?” [original data]. Retrieved October 28, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261028-121618/grapher/solar-pv-prices.html (archived on October 28, 2026).All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately. This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.
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