According to Anza’s Q1 2026 Quarterly Pricing & Domestic Content Report, the average price for solar panels in the United States was $0.28 per watt as the market adjusted to increased trade enforcement and new Foreign Entity of Concern compliance requirements.
The U.S. solar market entered 2026 navigating a landscape defined by regulatory shifts and the continued threat of supply chain disruptions. After a year of volatility in which average prices rose by as much as 14% between January and November 2025, prices remained at a higher base level in the first quarter of 2026.
The current stabilization at $0.28/W represents a shift from the $0.25/W levels seen in early 2025, driven by the convergence of anti-dumping and countervailing duty provisions and the tightening of eligibility for domestic content.
Higher prices are partly due to stricter Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) regulations. Under updated guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, projects that wish to qualify for the full 10% domestic content bonus under the Inflation Reduction Act must meet requirements regarding material assistance from prohibited foreign entities. For projects beginning construction in 2026, the applicable threshold percentage for non-PFE manufactured properties is 40% for solar facilities and 55% for energy storage technologies. These thresholds are expected to increase by 5% annually, creating urgency for developers to secure compatible hardware before the 2027 steps.
Anza’s data, that one collects the average price from more than 40 vendors representing more than 95% of the U.S. module supply, indicating a growing price gap between compliant and non-compliant hardware. FEOC-compliant modules have seen a steady price increase of approximately 4.9% as supply chains reorganized to exclude components from restricted entities. In contrast, modules that do not meet FEOC standards saw a more aggressive price spike of 9.2% during the previous safe harbor rush.
Anza noticed a convergence in the pricing of mainstream cell architectures. Mono PERC almost saw its historic price advantage over newer technologies disappear. The average price for Mono PERC modules in the first quarter was approximately $0.275 per watt. This represents an increase of 4.2% from end-2025 levels as buyers preferred PERC’s mature supply chain to mitigate risks associated with newer technologies.
Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) technology currently costs an average price of $0.285 per watt. While TOPCon previously demanded a larger premium, patent disputes between Tier-1 suppliers have introduced a degree of caution for some buyers. Despite these intellectual property concerns, TOPCon’s efficiency gains continue to drive strong demand in the utility segment. Heterojunction (HJT) modules remain the most expensive mainstream option, at $0.39 per watt. The HJT market is characterized by limited availability in the US, with prices driven more by specific cell origin and tariff status than by broader market commoditization.
The domestic manufacturing landscape also shows signs of price splits. Modules using US-made cells have the highest premium on the market, with prices starting at $0.46 per watt. The price reflects a 5.7% increase as developers compete for a limited pool of domestically produced cells needed to maximize the value of the tax credit.
Conversely, US-assembled modules using imported cells have seen more volatility. Prices for these hybrid domestic products rose to $0.36 per watt, an increase of almost 6% from the previous quarter. Many buyers are combining domestic modules with imported units or high-end domestic system components such as racks and inverters to reach the 40% domestic content threshold while controlling overall capital expenditure, the report said.
Prices for imported modules have remained relatively stable at $0.265 per watt for products not subject to the most severe trade fines. However, the shadow of the Section 232 investigation hangs over these figures. The study, which aims to determine whether imported solar energy components pose a threat to national security, could lead to new universal tariffs or quotas.
Furthermore, the expected AD/CVD determinations on imports from India, Indonesia and Laos are starting to influence purchasing strategies. Modules from Southeast Asian countries already affected by trade policies saw a 7.7% price increase at the end of last year, and while these have declined slightly, they remain higher than pre-litigation levels.
In the energy storage systems sector, the price trajectory has deviated from that of solar panels. Battery storage prices have continued to decline, counterbalancing rising module costs for integrated solar-plus-storage projects.
For a 10 MW 4-hour distributed generation system, AC Wrap’s average CAPEX price fell to $212 per kWh, a decrease of 6.8%. Self-integrated battery systems in the same segment fell to $173 per kWh. Utility-scale storage followed a similar downward trend, with AC Wrap prices reaching $194 per kWh and self-integrated prices falling to $158 per kWh, a decline of 10.6% from peak levels in mid-2025. This downward pressure is attributed to falling lithium carbonate costs and an expansion of battery production capacity outside China, although Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports are expected to fall 25% this year will remain a variable.
Looking ahead to the remainder of 2026, Anza warns that the status quo of $0.28 per watt module price may be short-lived. The potential for Section 232 Rates over polysilicon and its derivatives could create a new wave of upward pressure, especially for domestic manufacturers still dependent on imported raw materials.
Additionally, the Treasury Department’s Safe Harbor cost percentage tables, which allow taxpayers to use assigned cost percentages for domestic content calculations, will be a critical tool for developers as they navigate the 2026 construction start. As the industry moves toward the 40% domestic content requirement, the premium for US-manufactured cells is expected to remain high, further widening the gap between low-cost imported hardware and tax-advantaged domestic products.
The report concludes that purchasing strategies will need to be increasingly detailed by 2026. Buyers can no longer focus solely on the sticker price in cents per watt, but must instead consider the impact of tariffs, the value of the 10% domestic content bonus, and the long-term risk of supply chain audits under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and FEOC regulations.
As the market absorbs these regulatory costs, the baseline for U.S. solar prices appears to have shifted higher, ending the era of sub-twenty-cent utility-scale modules in the U.S. market.
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