U.S. solar project benchmarks
The U.S. solar market is the second largest in the world, but its data landscape differs fundamentally from Europe. This hub centralises verified cost benchmarks for American solar PV projects, sourced from federal institutions: NREL, LBNL and EIA.
Utility-scale data is available by ISO/RTO region (not by state). Residential data is available by state. Understanding this distinction is essential for accurate project modeling.
$1.12
$/Wdc CAPEX
Utility-scale (NREL)
$1.06–1.67
$/Wdc range
By ISO/RTO region
$3.15
$/Wdc residential
National (NREL MMP)
$3.2–5.2
$/W by state
Residential (LBNL)
8 regions
ISO/RTO coverage
Utility-scale data
Why U.S. solar data differs from Europe
European solar benchmarks are structured by country: each nation reports national statistics, and cross-country comparison is straightforward. The United States is a single country, but its electricity market is fragmented across Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that do not align with state borders.
For utility-scale solar, the most granular publicly available cost data is at the ISO/RTO region level, not the state level. The U.S. Department of Energy does not publish state-by-state utility-scale CAPEX. The best available data comes from LBNL, which analyses real project filings (EIA Form 860) and aggregates them by the 8 major ISO/RTO regions: ERCOT (Texas), CAISO (California), MISO (Midwest), PJM (Mid-Atlantic), NYISO (New York), ISO-NE (New England), SPP (Central Plains) and Non-ISO West.
For residential solar, the picture is different: LBNL's Tracking the Sun database covers 3.7 million installed systems and provides cost data by state. Prices range from $3.20/W in the cheapest states to over $5.20/W in the most expensive, driven by local permitting costs, labour rates, and installer margins.
Another key difference from Europe: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides a 30% federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) with additional "bonus adders" for domestic content, energy communities, and low-income projects. These credits can reduce effective costs by 30–50%, but are not reflected in the pre-incentive CAPEX figures presented on this site. European subsidies, by contrast, vary by country and are often included in reported LCOE figures — making direct EU/US comparison non-trivial.
U.S. ISO/RTO regions at a glance
The U.S. wholesale electricity market is operated by seven ISOs/RTOs covering roughly two-thirds of the country. The remainder (mostly the Southeast and parts of the West) operates under vertically integrated utilities with bilateral contracts. Solar CAPEX varies significantly across regions due to differences in labour costs, land prices, interconnection queues, and local permitting.
| Region | States covered | Utility CAPEX ($/Wdc) |
|---|---|---|
| ERCOT | Texas (most of) | $1.06 |
| Non-ISO West | AZ, NV, CO, UT, NM, OR, WA, ID, WY | ~$1.10 |
| SPP | KS, OK, NE, parts of TX/LA/AR/MO | ~$1.18 |
| MISO | IL, IN, MI, MN, IA, WI, MO, MS, LA, AR | ~$1.22 |
| CAISO | California | ~$1.30 |
| PJM | PA, NJ, MD, VA, OH, KY, NC (part), DE, DC | ~$1.37 |
| ISO-NE | CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT | ~$1.52 |
| NYISO | New York | ~$1.67 |
Source: LBNL Utility-Scale Solar 2025 (2024 COD projects). Values marked ~ are estimated from graphical data with a margin of error of +/-$0.05–0.10/Wdc. ERCOT value is exact from the report.
Available U.S. benchmark datasets
CAPEX USA
Investment costs for U.S. solar projects. Utility-scale by ISO/RTO region (8 regions), residential by state. Three segments: utility, commercial, residential.
Utility: $1.06–1.67/Wdc | Residential: $3.20–5.20/W
→ View data
OPEX USA
Annual operating costs for U.S. solar projects: O&M, insurance, land lease, inverter replacement. LBNL empirical vs. NREL all-in.
$11/kWac-yr (LBNL) to $22/kWac-yr (NREL all-in)
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PPA prices USA
Utility and corporate PPA prices across U.S. regions. Long-term contracts, VPPA, solar+storage hybrids.
$35/MWh (LBNL utility) to $57/MWh (LevelTen corporate)
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LCOE USA
Levelized cost of energy by region and segment. Empirical LBNL, modeled Lazard, EIA outlook. Market value analysis.
$60/MWh pre-credit, $41/MWh post-credit (LBNL 2024)
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WACC USA
Cost of capital, capital structure, debt spreads, tax equity yields. IRA transferability market and pricing.
6–8% nominal WACC, tax equity 7.5–8.5% IRR (2024–2025)
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Benchmarks Europe
Complete benchmark suite for 10 European markets: CAPEX, OPEX, WACC, Performance Ratio, degradation and LCOE.
10 countries, 3 segments, institutional sources
→ View European benchmarks
Sources and methodology
Units: All CAPEX figures in $/Wdc (dollars per Watt DC) before incentives, excluding land costs. LCOE in $/MWh. PPA in $/MWh (levelized). Some LBNL data is reported in $/Wac; we convert using ILR ≈ 1.34.
Primary sources: NREL PV System Cost Benchmark (Q1 2024) — bottom-up cost model, Market Median Price; LBNL Utility-Scale Solar 2025 — real project data from EIA Form 860, by ISO/RTO region; LBNL Tracking the Sun 2024 — 3.7M residential/commercial systems, by state; EIA Construction Costs — national averages by technology.
Coverage: Utility-scale by ISO/RTO region (8 regions). Residential by state. Three segments: residential (<25 kW), commercial (100 kW–5 MW), utility-scale (>5 MW).
Limitations: No public state-level data for utility-scale CAPEX. Regional estimates from LBNL graphical data have a margin of error of +/-5–10%. NREL MMP is a modelled benchmark, not a market survey. IRA tax credits (ITC 30%+) are excluded from all CAPEX figures.
Comparison with Europe: European data covers 10 countries with national-level statistics from IRENA, Fraunhofer ISE, and JRC. U.S. data is structurally different: regional (not national), with a distinct incentive framework. Direct EU/US CAPEX comparison requires adjusting for currency, incentive structure, and data methodology. See European benchmarks for the full EU dataset.
Last updated: June 2026