My real point was that labor price variations can easily be larger than the total actual panel cost.
I have seen quotations for under a dollar a watt using cheaper components
For very large commercial/utility installations it falls close to that ($1.40 including land and transformers).
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2016/09/29/nrel-u-s-utility-scal...
I just went outside and checked my utility company smart meter... the whole house isnt even using 100W right now (though thats on the low side, I'd think).
Well installed solar at US lattitudes in a very sunny area generally gives you something like 25-30% of peak as an average (it's not up half the day and averages less than 45deg over the day ignoring clouds).
But the very first microwave (oven) I looked up on Bestbuy used 1500 watt, and if you've got something cooking for 40 minutes in there you're easily using 1 kWh, or about three months of iPhone use.
> Curious, what is the need for a 5kW array? Do they typically only produce at 5-10% of peak?
As for peak production, well yes-ish. The average peak solar hours in the US is about 4 per day, Europe is probably at 3, in Texas it's probably 5. That means a 5kW array will produce about 25 kWh a day, or 750 a month in Texas, saving about $85 a month / 1k a year in electricity purchase at 11.5c a kWh. So yeah, on average a panel in the US produces at roughly 15% or so of peak. (±4 peak hours per day).