We pulled this site's own search data out of Google. Over the 90 days from 30 June to 27 September 2026 it recorded 148 real search queries, and 95 of them — 64% — were asking the same thing: what does it cost. The ones sitting at the top were "solar power cost", "cost of solar power in South Africa" and "solar panel price". Of those 95 queries, 28 carried a country or a city name, meaning someone wanted the price for one particular place.
What actually decides the answer is three numbers that belong to your location and nowhere else: how many usable sun hours a day you get, what you pay per kWh, and how many kWh you use in a month. Change any one of them and the answer moves. Below, the same input runs through ten countries to show how far apart they land.
Same input, ten countries, ten answers
The table comes from the solar estimate tool on this site. The input is identical in every row: 500 kWh a month, with a battery. Only the country changes — tariffs and irradiance follow that country's basis.
| Country | Tariff, USD/kWh | Sun hours/day | System size | Battery | Annual output | Annual saving (capped at own use) | Equipment reference price, USD | Payback (capped at own use) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iraq | 0.015 | 5.4 | 3.5 kW | 20 kWh | 6,899 kWh | $90 | 3,905–4,185 | 43.4–46.5 yrs |
| Egypt | 0.028 | 5.7 | 3.4 kW | 20 kWh | 7,074 kWh | $168 | 3,870–4,142 | 23.0–24.7 yrs |
| Nigeria | 0.037 | 4.8 | 4.0 kW | 20 kWh | 7,008 kWh | $222 | 4,080–4,400 | 18.4–19.8 yrs |
| Saudi Arabia | 0.055 | 6.2 | 3.1 kW | 20 kWh | 7,015 kWh | $330 | 3,765–4,013 | 11.4–12.2 yrs |
| Jordan | 0.090 | 5.7 | 3.4 kW | 20 kWh | 7,074 kWh | $540 | 3,870–4,142 | 7.2–7.7 yrs |
| Ghana | 0.169 | 4.9 | 3.9 kW | 20 kWh | 6,975 kWh | $1,014 | 4,045–4,357 | 4.0–4.3 yrs |
| South Africa | 0.198 | 5.5 | 3.5 kW | 20 kWh | 7,026 kWh | $1,188 | 3,905–4,185 | 3.3–3.5 yrs |
| Kenya | 0.220 | 5.5 | 3.5 kW | 20 kWh | 7,026 kWh | $1,320 | 3,905–4,185 | 3.0–3.2 yrs |
| Netherlands | 0.262 | 3.0 | 6.4 kW | 20 kWh | 7,008 kWh | $1,572 | 6,150–6,790 | 3.9–4.3 yrs |
| Romania | 0.343 | 3.8 | 5.0 kW | 20 kWh | 6,935 kWh | $2,058 | 5,538–6,038 | 2.7–2.9 yrs |
The figures were taken from that tool on 30 September 2026. The saving and payback columns are capped at your own consumption: 500 kWh a month is 6,000 kWh a year, while these systems generate around 6,900 kWh — nine hundred to just over a thousand kWh more than a household can use — so this table counts no revenue from selling power back.
There is a second reason for handling it that way. The generation formula does not deduct system efficiency losses (cable losses, inverter losses, panel heat, soiling), and the 15% sizing margin exists precisely to cover them. Counting that margin as revenue while it is also covering losses would count the same kilowatt-hour twice. Both columns are estimates from the equipment reference price and the self-consumption ceiling; they do not account for panel degradation, battery replacement or maintenance, so real numbers are usually lower. Country sources for tariffs and consumption are listed in the last section.
On identical input, equipment runs from USD 3,765 to 6,790 — a factor of 1.8. The money saved in a year runs from USD 90 to 2,058 — a factor of 23. Payback runs from 2.7 to 46.5 years — a factor of 17.
Convert those ten systems to a price per watt and the range narrows to USD 0.96–1.29 — and that already includes the 20 kWh battery. A price per watt tells you whether the hardware is expensive; it cannot tell you how many years it takes to pay back. Across the same input the tariff runs from 1.5 to 34.3 US cents per kWh, a factor of 23, and that is the number moving the payback column.
The Netherlands and Romania sit at the expensive end, and not because equipment costs more there. Those two average 3.0 and 3.8 sun hours, so the same 500 kWh a month needs 5 to 6.4 kW of panels; Iraq needs 3.5 kW.
Payback depends on what you put in the denominator
Iraq at 43 years and Egypt at 23 look like solar does not pay. That is not what those rows say. That column values the grid electricity you no longer buy — counting only what you consume — and Iraq's residential tariff is 1.5 US cents per kWh, Egypt's 2.8. When power is that cheap, paying off hardware out of avoided bills is slow.
The tool prints this basis under its result. The wording is: Annual saving = min(annual generation, annual consumption) × your tariff. The 15% sizing margin covers losses and cloudy days and is not counted as saving. The table above follows it.
So in very low-tariff countries, do not buy solar to save on the grid bill. The reason to buy there is usually one of two others: the grid keeps failing and a diesel generator is covering for it, or there is no grid at all. Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2026, published on 24 June 2026 by the IEA, IRENA, UNSD, the World Bank and the WHO, records that 655 million people still had no electricity in 2024. The Goal 7 chapter of the UN Statistics Division's Extended Report 2026 on the Sustainable Development Goals gives the distribution: Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 563 million of them, or 86%; the top 20 access-deficit countries account for 78% of the global total, and Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia together make up nearly a third of it.
Use diesel as the denominator and the conclusion flips. It does not generalise, though: diesel prices, grid tariffs and generator efficiency all differ from country to country. In our Nigeria article we worked one case through. Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics Diesel Price Watch, published on 24 June 2026, puts the national average retail diesel price in May 2026 at ₦3,277.47 a litre; at 32% efficiency and 9.97 kWh a litre that is about ₦1,027 of fuel per kWh (roughly USD 0.75 at about ₦1,370 to the dollar), against the USD 0.037 per kWh grid basis this site uses for Nigeria. With the denominator that far apart the conclusion turns: on annual self-consumption of 2,400 kWh, diesel valued at ₦1,027 per kWh, discounted to a 70% displacement rate and with 40% added for maintenance and depreciation, payback lands between 1.8 and 2.0 years.
What the tool does
It is a page with no sign-up and no email required. Four inputs: country, city, monthly consumption, and the tariff on your bill — plus whether you want a battery. One click returns six numbers and a policy note: how big the system should be (kW), how much battery (kWh), annual generation, annual saving, an equipment reference price range, and payback — along with the country's solar policy and financing points.
Irradiance is taken by city rather than by national average, because the north and south of the same country can differ by a full band; the data comes from NASA POWER. Tariffs and policy are maintained country by country, and each page carries the date it was last verified. Equipment reference prices are China-source ranges and exclude sea freight, duty and local installation. It covers 52 countries today.
It answers three questions.
One: how big should my system be. Most people have no figure in mind and get steered by whoever is selling. Daily consumption divided by sun hours, plus a 15% margin, gives a kW number you can take to more than one supplier and compare.
Two: roughly what it costs and how many years to pay back. You do not have to wait for three quotes to arrive, and a single price-per-watt figure will not pull you off course.
Three: what this should be compared against. Grid or diesel can flip the conclusion — we worked those two bases separately in the Nigeria article.
The page can also be embedded in someone else's site as an iframe, with no login and no account from us. Energy ministries, industry associations, media outlets and university research groups that want to give their readers a localised estimate can use it directly.
How to use it
Open dailyens.com/widget.php, pick the country, enter the city, your monthly consumption and the unit price from your bill, choose whether you want a battery, and press estimate. For the fuller country version, with a policy section and longer notes, replace widget.php in the address with the country name plus solar-systems, for example /kenya/solar-systems.
What we do beyond the numbers
The tool gives an estimate; installing a system is a different job. Selection, inspection and delivery of the kit are our part: choosing models from the Chinese manufacturers we have worked with long-term and audited, sizing a system against the project's load profile, watching factory testing, preparing the documents customs will ask for, arranging sea freight, and handling warranty after delivery under each supplier's policy. From order to after-sales there is one window from start to finish — one person to go to when something goes wrong.
Sources
Iraq and Jordan: residential consumption basis from the UN Statistics Division's Electricity Profiles (2023 edition); tariffs from Global Petrol Prices for the corresponding month.
Egypt: consumption from the same publication; tariffs from the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) tiered residential tariff of August 2026, weighted at 391 kWh a month.
Saudi Arabia: consumption and tariffs from the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Electrical Energy Statistics 2024, and the residential tariff from SERA/SEC (first tier, including 15% VAT).
Nigeria: consumption and tariffs are a cross-checked estimate from NERC regulatory data, the NBS 2024 Residential Energy Demand-Side Survey and a peer-reviewed study.
South Africa: residential consumption basis from the World Energy Council (via a third-party compilation); tariffs from Global Petrol Prices, 2023–2025 average.
Kenya: consumption from KPLC and EPRA tariff schedules; tariffs from Global Petrol Prices, 2023–2025 average.
Ghana: consumption from ACEP's Electricity Monitor (2024, based on Ghana Energy Commission data); tariffs from Global Petrol Prices, June 2025 basis.
Netherlands and Romania: residential consumption from ACER (the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators), 2024 EU household average; tariffs from Global Petrol Prices, December 2025 basis.
Nigerian diesel prices: the NBS Diesel Price Watch of June 2026, cited above.
The 2024 figures of 655 million people without electricity, 563 million of them in Sub-Saharan Africa (86%), a 78% share held by the top 20 access-deficit countries, and nearly a third of the total in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia together, come from Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report, published on 24 June 2026 by the IEA, IRENA, UNSD, the World Bank and the WHO, and from the Goal 7 chapter of the UN Statistics Division's Extended Report 2026. The report's co-publishing agencies are the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the Statistics Division of UN DESA, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
Sun hours come from NASA POWER city-level data, retrieved in September 2026.
System sizing, generation and equipment reference prices are computed by this site's own source code, calc.php: panels = daily consumption ÷ sun hours × 1.15; battery = daily consumption × 1.2; annual generation = panels × sun hours × 365; annual saving = min(annual generation, annual consumption) × the tariff you enter.
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