Retail Price Summary - January 2012 Update

There were 128 price moves this month, significantly up from the 61 moves in December. These 128 price moves translate to 16 increases and 112 decreases, accelerating the recent downward trend. In the previous month’s survey result, there had been 19 increases and 42 decreases. This relatively large number of reductions caused the US retail index to drop to $0.712 per continuous watt.

The all inverter index includes the full basket of inverters on the worldwide survey represented in US dollars and European euros. The price index is based on prices per continuous watt, which is a measure of the output power of inverters. The larger the continuous wattage, the larger the power of the inverter. The mix of inverter retailers is still dominated by US retailers. Around 90% of the prices are quoted in US dollars.

Further segmentation of this data can be accessed through our consulting services.

Methodology

The same calculation methodology applies to this index as the solar module index. It is based on the purchase price for a single inverter. The main difference in methodology between this index and the solar module index is that all global inverter prices are aggregated into a single index. Those aggregated products are then translated from the local currency into either US dollars or European euros.

This month, the dollar’s value strengthened against the euro. As a consequence, the euro index was up to €0.548 per continuous watt.