Solar cost per watt in October 2026
The national standard offer for 6.6 kW is $6,774, which is 1.03 dollars per watt; the premium offer is $8,084, or 1.22. At 10 kW the standard offer is 0.98 and the premium 1.17. These are Solar Choice installer offers, not homeowner quotes, and Solar Choice does not publish the count behind each figure; we print N on our own series once ten checked quotes exist for a city and size.
A widely quoted national figure of $0.88 to $0.95 per watt is not supported by the October 2026 tables: the 6 kW all-city average works out to 1.05 and the 10 kW figure to 0.98.
Why dollars per watt is the fair comparison
Two quotes for "6.6 kW" can be 15 panels of 440 W (6.6 kW) or 14 panels of 470 W (6.58 kW), one with a 5 kW inverter and one with 6 kW, one on tin and one on tile. Dividing the after-STC price by the panel wattage multiplied by the panel count removes the first difference and exposes the rest. A quote at $6,774 for 6.6 kW is 1.03 per watt; the same price for 6.16 kW (14 x 440 W) is 1.10. The second quote costs 7 per cent more for the electricity it will make, and nothing on the quote says so.
Always use the DC panel capacity, after the STC discount, including GST, and note what the price excludes (see below). Hardware-only $/W from a wholesaler price list is a different number and should never sit in the same column.
Dollars per watt by capital city and size, standard offer
Installed, after STCs, GST inclusive, October 2026. The 6.6 and 8 kW columns are interpolated between the published 6, 7 and 10 kW figures; 13 kW is scaled from 10 kW with the Solar Choice commercial index. In words: Perth is 0.80 per watt at 6.6 kW and 0.82 at 10 kW; Sydney is 0.93 and 0.88; Darwin is 1.55 and 1.49.
| City | 3 kW | 5 kW | 6.6 kW | 8 kW | 10 kW | 13 kW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 1.02 | 0.85 | 0.80 | 0.80 | 0.82 | 0.79 |
| Adelaide | 1.20 | 0.95 | 0.88 | 0.86 | 0.84 | 0.85 |
| Canberra | 1.34 | 1.02 | 0.93 | 0.88 | 0.83 | 0.85 |
| Sydney | 1.22 | 1.00 | 0.93 | 0.90 | 0.88 | 0.87 |
| Melbourne | 1.33 | 1.03 | 0.94 | 0.91 | 0.89 | 0.85 |
| Brisbane | 1.37 | 1.11 | 1.02 | 0.99 | 0.95 | 0.92 |
| Hobart | 1.44 | 1.22 | 1.14 | 1.14 | 1.15 | 1.08 |
| Darwin | 2.08 | 1.69 | 1.55 | 1.50 | 1.49 | 1.46 |
| National | 1.38 | 1.11 | 1.03 | 1.00 | 0.98 | 0.96 |
Dollars per watt by capital city and size, premium offer
Premium offers (REC, Maxeon, Aiko or Qcells class panels with Fronius, SMA or Enphase inverters, as Solar Choice defines the table) run 19 per cent above standard nationally at 6.6 kW: 1.22 against 1.03 per watt. The premium is a fixed-ish dollar amount per panel, so the gap in $/W narrows as systems grow.
| City | 3 kW | 5 kW | 6.6 kW | 8 kW | 10 kW | 13 kW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 1.28 | 1.06 | 0.99 | 0.98 | 0.99 | 0.95 |
| Adelaide | 1.45 | 1.17 | 1.08 | 1.04 | 1.00 | 1.01 |
| Canberra | 1.58 | 1.23 | 1.11 | 1.05 | 1.01 | 1.03 |
| Sydney | 1.49 | 1.19 | 1.10 | 1.07 | 1.05 | 1.04 |
| Melbourne | 1.52 | 1.19 | 1.10 | 1.06 | 1.04 | 0.99 |
| Brisbane | 1.64 | 1.32 | 1.22 | 1.17 | 1.12 | 1.09 |
| Hobart | 1.72 | 1.45 | 1.35 | 1.33 | 1.32 | 1.25 |
| Darwin | 2.35 | 1.99 | 1.86 | 1.82 | 1.82 | 1.78 |
| National | 1.63 | 1.33 | 1.22 | 1.19 | 1.17 | 1.14 |
Before and after the STC: how much of your $/W is subsidy
The STC discount is worth 0.27 per watt in Zone 3 and 0.23 in Zone 4 on a 6.6 kW system (45 and 39 certificates at $39, 5-year deeming). Add it back and the installer's actual price in Sydney is 1.20 per watt, of which 22% is the certificate line. From 1 January 2027 deeming drops to 4 years and the subsidy per watt falls by about 20 per cent.
| City | Zone | Before STC | STC per watt | After STC | STC share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | Zone 3 | 1.07 | 45 STCs, 0.27 | 0.80 | 25% |
| Adelaide | Zone 3 | 1.15 | 45 STCs, 0.27 | 0.88 | 23% |
| Canberra | Zone 3 | 1.20 | 45 STCs, 0.27 | 0.93 | 22% |
| Sydney | Zone 3 | 1.20 | 45 STCs, 0.27 | 0.93 | 22% |
| Melbourne | Zone 4 | 1.17 | 39 STCs, 0.23 | 0.94 | 20% |
| Brisbane | Zone 3 | 1.29 | 45 STCs, 0.27 | 1.02 | 21% |
| Hobart | Zone 4 | 1.37 | 39 STCs, 0.23 | 1.14 | 17% |
| Darwin | Zone 2 | 1.85 | 50 STCs, 0.30 | 1.55 | 16% |
Why bigger systems cost less per watt
Some costs do not scale with panels: the inverter ($1,090 for a 5 kW Sungrow at trade price), a crew for the day ($478 at award rates), the certificate and connection fees ($43). Only panels (0.365 per watt at trade) and racking ($76 per kW) scale. Spread the fixed $1,611 over more watts and the per-watt floor falls, which is the whole reason a 10 kW quote looks cheap per watt next to a 5 kW one. The index behaves the same way: 1.11 at 5 kW, 1.03 at 6.6 kW, 0.98 at 10 kW.
| System | Fixed costs | Panels and racking | Floor $/W before STC | Index $/W after STC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kW | $1,611 | $2,205 | 0.84 | 1.11 |
| 6.6 kW | $1,611 | $2,911 | 0.75 | 1.03 |
| 10 kW | $1,611 | $4,410 | 0.66 | 0.98 |
| 13 kW | $1,611 | $5,733 | 0.62 | 0.96 |
The floor column is hardware and award labour only; it excludes cable, isolators, overheads, warranty provision and margin, and it is before the STC. It shows the shape of the curve, not a fair price.
The "too cheap" floor
Add the lowest sourced trade prices for compliant hardware and award labour on a 6.6 kW single-storey tin roof job: panels $2,409, inverter $1,090, racking $504, labour $478, fees $43; $4,524 before GST and $4,977 with it, or 0.75 per watt before the STC. Take off 45 Zone 3 certificates at $39 and the floor is $3,222, 0.49 per watt after the STC. Below that number the quote cannot be paying for the hardware and labour it names at the lowest trade prices we could find on 27 October 2026, let alone cable, insurance, a warranty provision or profit. An offer at $0.60 per watt after STCs is paying $3,960 for a job whose floor is $3,222: something on the quote is not what will arrive. The cheap solar page lists what usually gets swapped.
Converting between $/W, $/kW, total price and panel count
One worked example. A quote says $6,774 for 15 x 440 W panels after STCs. Capacity: 15 x 440 = 6,600 W = 6.60 kW. Dollars per watt: $6,774 / 6,600 = 1.03. Dollars per kW: 1,030. Going the other way: a city band of 1.03 to 1.22 per watt on 6,600 W is $6,798 to $8,052. If a quote gives a price and a panel count but no wattage, ask for the panel datasheet; without the wattage the $/W cannot be computed and the quote cannot be compared.
Panel count rule of thumb at 440 W: 5 kW is 11 or 12 panels, 6.6 kW is 15, 8 kW is 18, 10 kW is 23, 13 kW is 30.
Hardware-only $/W is a different number
Retail panel prices run from $0.21–0.23 to $0.63–0.70 per watt in the Solar Choice brand table. That is the panel alone, uninstalled, before the inverter, racking, labour, compliance and GST, and before the STC. Keep it out of any comparison with installed quotes.
| Brand | Model | $ per watt | $ per panel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seraphim | 440W TopCon | $0.21–0.23 | $80–$100 |
| Jinko | 440–475W N-Type | $0.25–0.28 | $95–$130 |
| Trina | 440W N-Type | $0.25 | $95–$110 |
| Aiko | 470–475W Neostar | $0.31 | $125–$150 |
| SunPower | 450–455W P-Series | $0.44–0.47 | $190–$220 |
| Tindo | 400–420W Alpha | $0.60–0.70 | $240–$280 |
| REC | 400–410W Karra | $0.63–0.70 | $250–$300+ |
What is and is not inside our $/W
- Inside: panels, inverter, mounting, labour, the grid connection application, the STC assignment, GST; single-storey tin roof, single phase, no shading, as Solar Choice describes its offers.
- Outside: meter exchange (charged by your retailer), switchboard upgrade, scaffold or edge protection for two storeys, tile-roof labour, export limiting devices, tilt frames, optimisers or microinverters, travel outside the metro area, any state rebate (Victoria's $1,400 is taken off after the prices shown here).
- Basis: DC panel capacity, not inverter rating; after STC at $39 per certificate with 5-year deeming; GST inclusive.
What a watt costs per kWh over 25 years
Dollars per watt tells you what you pay; cents per kWh tells you what you get. Divide the installed price by 25 years of output (city yield, 0.5 per cent a year degradation) and Perth solar costs 2.1c per kWh at the standard offer against a grid rate of 33c; Hobart, with the lowest yield, costs 3.8c. A cheaper $/W in a low-sun city can still cost more per kWh than a dearer $/W in a sunny one.
| City | $/W standard | Yield kWh/kW/yr | Standard | Premium | Grid rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 0.80 | 1,606 | 2.1c | 2.6c | 33c |
| Adelaide | 0.88 | 1,533 | 2.4c | 3.0c | 40c |
| Canberra | 0.93 | 1,570 | 2.5c | 3.0c | 27c |
| Sydney | 0.93 | 1,424 | 2.8c | 3.3c | 34c |
| Melbourne | 0.94 | 1,314 | 3.0c | 3.5c | 29c |
| Brisbane | 1.02 | 1,533 | 2.8c | 3.4c | 30c |
| Hobart | 1.14 | 1,278 | 3.8c | 4.5c | 30c |
| Darwin | 1.55 | 1,606 | 4.1c | 4.9c | 29c |
Dollars per watt over time
October 2026 is the baseline reading of the Solar Scorecard Price Index: 1.03 per watt standard, 1.22 premium. The table grows by one row each month; the next reading is due 24 November 2026. The data is at /data/pricing-history.json.
| Month | Standard $/W | Premium $/W | Standard 6.6 kW | STC price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 1.03 | 1.22 | $6,774 | $39 |
Check your quote against the band
Enter the after-STC price and the DC capacity from your quote. The result is your $/W against the October 2026 standard-to-premium band for the city you pick. The full quote check adds the STC audit and three questions to ask.
Method and sample
- Source tables: Solar Choice Price Index residential standard and premium, dated 1 October 2026, captured 27 October 2026; eight capitals; sizes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 kW published, 6.6 and 8 kW interpolated, 13 kW scaled by the commercial index.
- $/W = after-STC price / (kW x 1000), rounded to the cent.
- STC: $39 per certificate, 5-year deeming, zone per capital; the before-STC column adds certificates x price back on.
- Sample size: not published by Solar Choice; none claimed here. Our quotes series will print N and the collection window on every figure.
- Prices checked 27 October 2026; next review 24 November 2026.
Cost per watt questions
What is the average cost per watt of solar in Australia?
1.03 to 1.22 dollars per watt installed at 6.6 kW in October 2026, after STCs and GST inclusive, from the Solar Choice standard and premium offers. At 10 kW it is 0.98 to 1.17.
What is a good price per watt for solar?
Between 1.03 and 1.22 per watt for 6.6 kW nationally; under 0.80 in Perth and under 0.93 in Sydney is at or below the standard offer. Below 0.49 per watt after STCs the job cannot cover compliant hardware and award labour at trade prices.
How much is a 6.6kW system per watt?
1.03 (standard) to 1.22 (premium) per watt nationally in October 2026: $6,774 to $8,084 after STCs. Perth is 0.80 and Darwin 1.55 at the standard offer.
How much is a 10kW system per watt?
0.98 to 1.17 per watt nationally: $9,810 to $11,700 after STCs. It is cheaper per watt than 6.6 kW because the inverter, labour and fees are spread over more panels.
Which state has the cheapest solar per watt?
Western Australia: Perth is 0.80 per watt at the standard 6.6 kW offer, then Adelaide at 0.88 and Canberra at 0.93. Darwin is dearest at 1.55.
Does the $/W include the STC rebate?
Yes, every $/W on this page is after the STC discount at $39 per certificate. Before the discount a Zone 3 6.6 kW system is 1.20 per watt; the certificates are 0.27 per watt of that.
Will the price per watt fall next year?
The STC part rises in price: deeming drops from 5 to 4 years on 1 January 2027, which removes about 0.05 per watt of subsidy in Zone 3. Hardware would have to fall by more than that for the after-STC $/W to drop. We publish the index monthly so you can see which way it moved.