Obviously it's just the panels, cost for installing are closer to $3-$5 for residential, and dropping below $2 for utility-scale solar iirc. If the total costs

Obviously it's just the panels, cost for installing are closer to $3-$5 for residential, and dropping below $2 for utility-scale solar iirc. If the total costs were actually $0.55 it'd be frontpage news the world over as it'd mean that utility solar would probably be more like 30c per watt, or $300 per kw. Now consider that the capacity factor is about 15% for solar, that means that 1kw of installed capacity generates about 3.6 kwh per day, or at 13c (US average) residential electricity prices, about half a dollar a day. That means for a $300 investment you'd stand to save about $170 a year. Little could compete with that, especially once you add in the incentives. Remember there's an immediate 30% tax credit, meaning if you spend $300 on a kwh, your taxes are reduced by $100. So now you're paying $200. Further, you can depreciate your solar in like 6 years, meaning in about a quarter of the lifespan of your solar installation you can reap $300 in depreciation, which you can subtract from your taxable income. So if your effective tax rate is say 30%, then 300 fewer taxed dollars saves you another $100. So now you're at $100 invested for a $170 annual return. And don't forget, you're not just generating energy, you're generating green energy which is certifiable and can be sold as SRECs on the market, which increases your revenue further. Every business in the US would go solar tomorrow and half the coal industry would go bankrupt overnight with more to follow if we saw prices that low suddenly! Anyway so the prices are closer to 8-10x as much, the figure cited is just the panel cost. It's still pretty nice but it's just an iteration of solar tech like every other that is offset by subsidies dwindling in a staggered design.