The price of photovoltaic solar panel installation has continued to fall in the US.

A report by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found prices went down by 6-14% in 2012. Smaller projects saw the largest reductions in price.

The report also looked at installations from 1998 and showed prices were down by an average of 5-7% each year, with the sharpest drop since 2008. Figures for the first six months of this year showed the trend has continued in 2013.

The cuts in price are mainly due to the panels themselves becoming cheaper, although reductions in other costs such as inverters, permits and labour have also helped.

Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative said: “Solar job growth has doubled in the past three years alone. Today, there is now more than 8,500 MW of cumulative solar electric capacity in the United States – enough to power more than 1.3 million American homes. And the more affordable solar becomes, the more American families and businesses can take advantage of this clean, inexhaustible energy source to meet their electricity and hot water needs.”

Researchers at a US University recently claimed solar powered cells can be developed to heal themselves.