U.S. solar hardware market tightens as buyers race back-to-back tariff deadlines

If you're weighing solar panels for your home, new pricing data shows the market has gotten tighter and less friendly to buyers. A quarterly report from distributor A1 SolarStore found solar hardware prices are holding firmer, with less room to negotiate: the gap between listed prices and what buyers actually paid shrank from about 12 cents per watt in the first quarter of 2026 to about 5 cents in the second. Much of this comes from importers stockpiling ahead of tariff and tax-credit deadlines, not from more people wanting solar.

Panels made with U.S.-produced ingots and wafers, which qualify for a federal tax credit bonus under the Inflation Reduction Act, saw prices drop nearly 9% to about 51 cents per watt after the Treasury tightened the rules for which panels actually qualify. Even with that price drop, domestic panels remain the most expensive option. Meanwhile, tariffs on Chinese-made panels stayed above 200% combined, and new duties of over 100% were proposed on panels from India, Indonesia, and Laos, further narrowing where cheaper imports can come from. Panels that don't meet "Foreign Entity of Concern" sourcing rules, which affect eligibility for certain incentives, dropped in price as sellers cleared them out, while fully compliant panels are now in higher demand.

For a homeowner, the takeaway is that solar equipment costs are being shaped as much by trade policy and tax-credit rules as by supply and demand. Prices and availability may keep shifting depend on your state and which incentives you're trying to use, so it's worth checking current local rebate and tax-credit rules before pricing out a system.