PES Solar Equipment Price Index — Q3 2026
The PES Solar Equipment Price Index is a quarterly benchmark of what solar and electrical equipment actually costs at wholesale right now — computed from our own live catalog of 6,411 in-stock, analyzable SKUs, not from list prices, press releases, or estimates. Q3 2026 is the baseline quarter; quarter-over-quarter deltas begin with Q4 2026.
n=4,305
n=215
n=533
n=192
n=77
n=9 (indicative)
Headline findings — Q3 2026
- The median in-stock residential solar panel costs $0.27/W at wholesale across 4,305 in-stock panel SKUs, with the tightest pricing in the 500–549W utility-scale band at $0.20/W.
- 500W+ panels are now cheaper per watt than legacy sub-300W panels — the 500–549W band medians $0.20/W vs $0.275/W for <300W modules, a 27% per-watt discount that marks the wholesale market’s shift to large-format modules.
- The median home battery costs $473 per kWh of storage across 215 in-stock SKUs — LiFePO4 chemistry medians $481/kWh while legacy lead-acid/AGM sits at $220/kWh, a 2.2× gap.
- Standby generators median $393 per kW of capacity across 192 in-stock standby SKUs (median unit size 39 kW), roughly 14% more per kW than string solar inverters ($344/kW, n=533).
- The median microinverter costs $205 per unit across 77 in-stock SKUs; Enphase, the category leader, medians at $196/unit (n=45).
The index tables
Solar panels — median $/W by wattage band (overall median: $0.270/W, n=4,305)
| Wattage band | SKUs | Median $/W | Interquartile range ($/W) |
|---|---|---|---|
| <300W | 1,046 | $0.275 | $0.175 – $0.482 |
| 300–399W | 789 | $0.263 | $0.175 – $0.409 |
| 400–449W | 681 | $0.303 | $0.175 – $0.408 |
| 450–499W | 361 | $0.261 | $0.175 – $0.351 |
| 500–549W | 370 | $0.200 | $0.175 – $0.351 |
| 550W+ | 1,058 | $0.282 | $0.175 – $0.360 |
Home batteries — median $/kWh by chemistry (overall median: $473/kWh, n=215)
| Chemistry | SKUs | Median $/kWh | Interquartile range ($/kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiFePO4 (LFP) | 50 | $481 | $329 – $643 |
| Other lithium | 28 | $593 | $294 – $681 |
| Lead-acid / AGM | 38 | $220 | $203 – $293 |
Inverters & generators — median $/kW
| Segment | SKUs with parseable kW | Median $/kW | Interquartile range ($/kW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| String inverters | 533 (of 1,276) | $344 | $213 – $654 |
| Hybrid inverters | 135 (of 196) | $290 | $236 – $411 |
| Standby generators (whole-home/commercial) | 192 | $393 | $332 – $477 |
| All generators (incl. portable) | 333 | $359 | — |
Median standby generator unit size: 39 kW. Median unit prices: string inverters $1,912; hybrid inverters $2,749.
Microinverters — median $/unit by brand (overall median: $205/unit, n=77)
| Brand | SKUs | Median $/unit |
|---|---|---|
| Enphase | 45 | $196 |
| APsystems | 16 | $288 |
| Chilicon Power | 4 | $235 |
| Hoymiles | 3 | $304 |
| Yotta Energy | 3 | $484 |
PV wire — $/ft (spool price ÷ length)
| SKUs | Median $/ft | Interquartile range ($/ft) |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | $0.54 | $0.51 – $0.70 |
The PV wire sample is small (9 stocked spool listings) and should be treated as indicative only.
Where PES sits vs. the market
Stated plainly: across 851 catalog SKUs where our competitor price-monitoring engine holds live matches (checked July 21, 2026), the median PES price sits 18.7% above the median matched competitor price — PES is cheaper on 91 SKUs and pricier on 760.
Read the index values above as listed wholesale prices. Our positioning versus the market median is a deliberate pricing-strategy choice — stocked inventory, real availability, and project-level support — not a data artifact. If a number here looks high for your project, ask for a quote; volume and project pricing regularly land below listed levels. We publish the index because buyers deserve to see the real distribution, not a curated “from $X”.
How we compute this
- Source: PES’s own live catalog (85,558 total products), pulled August 16, 2026 through the read-only Shopify Admin API.
- Sample frame: products that are active and in stock (inventory > 0) — i.e., actually purchasable today — within each category’s product-type scope.
- Exclusions, applied identically every quarter for repeatability: placeholder/GAP listings (price ≤ $1 or flagged handles); accessories and non-primary hardware matched by title keywords (cables, brackets, mounts, covers, kits/bundles for unit-priced categories); records whose core spec (wattage, kWh, kW, or spool length) could not be reliably parsed from the title; and per-unit price outliers outside documented sanity bands (e.g., panels outside $0.05–$3.00/W).
- Metrics: medians with interquartile ranges of per-normalized-unit price: $/W for panels, $/unit for microinverters, $/kW for inverters and generators, $/kWh for batteries, $/ft for PV wire.
- Caveats: specs are parsed from listing titles, not datasheets; battery capacities use title kWh or V×Ah derivation. Q3 2026 is the baseline quarter — no prior-quarter snapshot exists, so quarter-over-quarter deltas begin with the Q4 2026 edition.
Sample accounting (raw pulled → analyzed)
| Category | Raw in-stock pulled | Excluded | Analyzed SKUs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar panels | 14,776 | 10,471 | 4,305 |
| String & hybrid inverters | 1,947 | 475 (+195 micros re-routed) | 1,472 |
| Generators | 1,327 | 994 | 333 |
| Batteries & storage | 679 | 464 | 215 |
| Microinverters | 261 | 184 | 77 |
| PV wire (of 364 stocked wire SKUs) | 364 | 355 (350 non-PV wire) | 9 |
Refreshed quarterly
The index is recomputed every quarter from a fresh catalog snapshot, with identical exclusion rules so quarters are comparable. The Q4 2026 edition — the first with quarter-over-quarter deltas — publishes in October 2026. Between editions, our Solar Equipment Price Watch tracks live pricing intelligence, and our topic hubs go deeper on each category: solar panels, batteries & storage, inverters, and generators.
Buying at project scale?
The index shows listed wholesale medians. For pallets, full systems, or contractor pricing, send the spec sheet — we quote from real inventory, usually within one business day.
Get a project quoteFrequently asked questions
What is the PES Solar Equipment Price Index?
A quarterly benchmark of in-stock wholesale prices for solar and electrical equipment, computed from Portlandia Electric Supply’s live catalog of 6,411 analyzable SKUs across six categories: solar panels, string and hybrid inverters, microinverters, batteries, generators, and PV wire.
What does a solar panel cost per watt in Q3 2026?
The median in-stock solar panel costs $0.27/W across 4,305 SKUs. The cheapest band is 500–549W at $0.20/W; legacy sub-300W panels median $0.275/W — a 27% per-watt premium over large-format modules.
How much does a home battery cost per kWh?
The median in-stock home battery costs $473 per kWh of storage (n=215). LiFePO4 medians $481/kWh, other lithium chemistries $593/kWh, and legacy lead-acid/AGM $220/kWh.
How does PES pricing compare to competitors?
Across 851 SKUs with live competitor matches (checked July 21, 2026), the median PES price is 18.7% above the median matched competitor price. PES is cheaper on 91 of those SKUs and pricier on 760 — a deliberate positioning on stocked inventory and project support rather than a data artifact.
How is the index calculated?
We pull every active, in-stock product via the read-only Shopify Admin API, exclude placeholders, accessories, and unparseable or outlier records under fixed rules, then report medians and interquartile ranges of normalized per-unit prices ($/W, $/kWh, $/kW, $/unit, $/ft). The same rules apply every quarter so editions are comparable.
How often is the index updated?
Quarterly. Q3 2026 is the baseline edition; the Q4 2026 edition publishes in October 2026 and introduces quarter-over-quarter deltas.