Assumes 3%/yr rate increases, 0.5%/yr panel degradation and no federal tax credit (the 30% §25D credit ended for systems installed after Dec 31, 2025). How we calculate
Data approachEIA rates · NREL sun hours · 2026 federal policy · methodology
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Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Shop Solar Kits. If you purchase through our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This does not affect our calculations. This guide is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice.
Quick answer: A mobile home using 600 kWh per month in a location with 5 peak sun hours needs about 13 solar panels (400W each, roughly 5 kW). Your own number could be anywhere from about 9 panels (400 kWh per month) to 25 panels (1,200 kWh per month). Three inputs decide it: your monthly kilowatt-hour use, the peak sun hours where you live, and whether you are grid-tied or off-grid. Since January 1, 2026, the 30% federal tax credit is no longer available to homeowners who buy solar, which makes accurate sizing and quote comparison more important than before.
Last updated: October 1, 2026.
⚡ System Size
How Many Solar Panels Does a Mobile Home Need in 2026?
Use this installer-standard formula, which includes a 20% allowance for real-world system losses (wiring, inverter, heat, dirt):
With 400W (0.4 kW) panels and 5.0 peak sun hours, that simplifies to panels = monthly kWh ÷ 48. Here is how it plays out:
Monthly use
System size
400W panels
Est. cost at $2.50–$3.50/W
400 kWh
3.3 kW
9
$8,300–$11,700
600 kWh
5.0 kW
13
$12,500–$17,500
800 kWh
6.7 kW
17
$16,700–$23,300
1,000 kWh
8.3 kW
21
$20,800–$29,200
1,200 kWh
10.0 kW
25
$25,000–$35,000
Calculated by Green Energy Calculators at 5.0 peak sun hours; panel counts rounded up. Costs use the per-watt range in the cost section below.
Data visualization
Solar panels needed by monthly electricity use. A 600 kWh/month home needs 13 panels (400W) at 5.0 peak sun hours. Source: Green Energy Calculators calculation using NREL-style sizing math.
Chart summary: Panel count rises in a straight line with electricity use, adding about 4 panels for every 200 kWh per month. A home using 400 kWh needs 9 panels, while one using 1,200 kWh needs 25. A 400W panel covers roughly 18–21 square feet, so 25 panels need about 450–525 square feet of unshaded surface, which many single-wide roofs cannot provide. In that case a ground mount or a smaller system that offsets only part of your bill may be the practical choice.
What does a typical mobile home actually use? EIA’s 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey reports about 42.5 million Btu of electricity per mobile-home household per year, which converts to roughly 12,400 kWh per year, or about 1,040 kWh per month. That is an average across all climates and heating fuels, and your own use may be far lower or higher, so pull 12 months of bills and average them. Summer air conditioning and winter electric heat can swing a single month well above the annual average. Use our solar system size calculator to run your numbers before you talk to an installer.
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💰 System Cost
How Much Does Solar Cost for a Manufactured Home in 2026?
Installed residential solar generally costs $2.50–$3.50 per watt in early 2026, according to EnergySage marketplace data, before any incentives. That puts a 5 kW system at roughly $12,500–$17,500 and a 10 kW system at $25,000–$35,000.
Quotes vary because of roof complexity, local permit and interconnection fees, equipment brand and installer overhead. A bid at $2.20 per watt using unfamiliar budget panels is not directly comparable to a $3.00 per watt bid with a recognized panel brand and a 25-year product warranty. Ask every installer for the cost per watt, the panel and inverter brands, and the production estimate in kWh per year. Get at least three quotes. For a broader price breakdown, see our guide to how much solar panels cost in 2026. For more on this topic, see our guide to How Many Solar Panels for a Vacation Home?.
Solar vs utility company · 25-year comparison
25-year totals: 3%/yr rate increases, 0.5%/yr degradation, no federal credit. Methodology
Is There a Solar Tax Credit for Mobile Homes in 2026?
For homeowner-purchased systems installed in 2026, no. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, ended the Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) for expenditures after December 31, 2025. Many articles still advertise a 30% credit for 2026, so check the date on any quote that subtracts it.
What still applies:
Systems installed in 2025 or earlier: the credit can still be claimed on your federal return with IRS Form 5695, and any unused amount carries forward.
Leases, power purchase agreements (PPAs) and prepaid plans: the company that owns the system can claim the business credit (Section 48E), which generally remains available for systems placed in service through 2027. Whether any savings reach you depends on the contract, and not every provider offers these plans for manufactured homes.
State, local and utility programs: these include property-tax or sales-tax exemptions, rebates and net-metering rules. Search your state in the DSIRE incentive database before you decide.
Because incentives change often, confirm every figure with your installer and a tax professional.
📋 Key Insights
Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied Solar for Mobile Homes: Which Is Cheaper?
For a home that already has utility service, grid-tied is almost always the cheaper route. A grid-tied system needs no battery, and the utility’s net-metering or export-credit program handles surplus power. The trade-off is that most grid-tied inverters shut down during a power outage unless you add battery backup.
Off-grid makes sense when the utility cannot reach the property or the line-extension quote is very high. It requires a battery bank sized for several cloudy days, a charge controller, an inverter or charger, and often a backup generator, so the system must be larger and costs more than a grid-tied system of the same output. The simple test: get a written line-extension quote from the utility, then compare it with a written off-grid quote that includes batteries and installation.
Pre-built kits can simplify an off-grid or backup setup. Shop Solar Kits† sells packaged solar kits; use code WAYSENG101 at checkout for a discount (affiliate link). Before you buy any kit, confirm that its panel, inverter and battery capacity match your load, and check local permit rules, since many jurisdictions require permits and licensed electrical work. If you are grid-tied and want to model bill credits, use our solar net metering calculator.
⚡ System Size
How Do Peak Sun Hours Change the Number of Panels You Need?
Peak sun hours are the equivalent number of hours per day at full-strength sunlight (1,000 watts per square meter). They are not the same as daylight hours. State averages range from roughly 3.8 in the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes to about 6.5 in Arizona, based on NREL solar-resource data, and exact figures differ by city and data source. NREL’s PVWatts calculator gives site-specific results for your ZIP code.
Data visualization
Panels needed for 600 kWh per month by peak sun hours. Falls from 18 panels at 3.5 hours to 10 at 6.5 hours (400W panels). Source: Green Energy Calculators calculation; check your ZIP in NREL PVWatts.
Chart summary: For the same 600 kWh per month, a home with 3.5 peak sun hours needs 18 panels, while one with 6.5 hours needs 10, which is about 45% fewer. Each extra half hour of sun trims roughly one to two panels. At 800 kWh per month, an Arizona-level 6.5 hours needs about 13 panels versus about 22 at 3.8 hours, a gap of 3.6 kW that costs roughly $9,000–$12,600 at $2.50–$3.50 per watt.
Roof direction and tilt matter too. South-facing roofs at a moderate tilt produce the most energy, and east- or west-facing planes typically produce noticeably less. Many manufactured homes have low-pitch roofs with limited south-facing area, so installers often compare a roof mount with a ground mount that can be aimed optimally and avoids roof-loading questions. Shade from trees or neighboring structures can cut output sharply; microinverters or power optimizers can reduce the impact of partial shade.
📈 Payback Period
How Long Does Solar Take to Pay Back on a Mobile Home?
Simple payback is the system cost divided by yearly bill savings. For our reference system (5 kW, 5.0 peak sun hours, about 7,300 kWh per year, $3.00 per watt, no federal credit), the numbers at an 18¢ per kWh rate, close to the recent U.S. residential average reported by EIA, are:
Cost: $15,000
Year-1 savings: about $1,314
Simple payback: about 11.4 years
Modeled 25-year net savings: about $15,900, assuming 0.5% yearly panel degradation, flat electricity prices and no repairs
Data visualization
Simple payback in years for a 5 kW system with no federal credit. At $3.00/W it is 11.4 years at 18 cents per kWh. Assumes 5.0 sun hours, 20% losses, flat rates. Source: Green Energy Calculators model; rates benchmarked to EIA.
Chart summary: Payback is driven mainly by the electricity rate you avoid. At $3.00 per watt it ranges from about 20 years at 10¢ per kWh to 17 years at 12¢, 11 years at 18¢, and under 8 years at 26¢ per kWh. A cheaper $2.50 per watt install shortens each of these by roughly a fifth, and a $3.50 install lengthens them by about the same. Payback under 10 years is realistic mainly where rates are above roughly 22¢ per kWh or the system price is at the low end.
This is a simplified model. Real results change with your utility’s net-metering rules, because some utilities credit exported power at less than the retail rate and others charge fixed fees that solar cannot offset. Rising electricity prices shorten payback, while financing interest, inverter replacement and roof repairs lengthen it. As an example of financing, a $15,000 loan over 10 years at 7% costs about $174 per month, which exceeds the roughly $110 per month of first-year savings in the model, so you would be cash-flow negative until the loan is paid off. Use our solar payback calculator to test your own rate and price.
Sources and How We Calculated
Sizing and payback figures are calculated by Green Energy Calculators using: 400W panels; panels = kWh ÷ (30 × peak sun hours × 0.80 × 0.4); 0.5% annual panel degradation (consistent with the median in NREL’s PV degradation review); payback = system cost ÷ (annual kWh × rate).
Direct answers for US homeowners — sized for a $75/month electric bill.
Most mobile homes need roughly 9 to 25 panels (400W), depending on electricity use and sunshine. At 5 peak sun hours, 400 kWh per month needs about 9 panels, 600 kWh needs about 13, and 1,000 kWh needs about 21. Divide your 12-month average usage by (30 × peak sun hours × 0.8) to get kW, then divide by 0.4 to get panels.
Installed cost typically runs $2.50–$3.50 per watt, so a 5 kW system is about $12,500–$17,500 before incentives. The 30% federal credit for homeowner-owned solar (Section 25D) ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025. Some leases and power purchase agreements still pass through a business tax credit, and state or utility incentives vary by location.
Often yes, but it depends on the roof. Homes built to the federal HUD Code since 1976 can be candidates, yet roof framing, load capacity and roofing material vary widely. Have a licensed installer or structural engineer confirm the roof can carry the panels and the mounting method. Ground-mounted systems avoid roof loading and are common where the lot has open space.
Simple payback depends mostly on your electricity rate and installed price. For a 5 kW system at $3.00 per watt, payback is about 11 years at 18¢/kWh, about 7–8 years at 26–30¢/kWh, and 17 years or more near 12¢/kWh. These figures exclude financing costs, incentives and future rate increases, so get a local quote to refine them.
Buying with cash usually has the lowest lifetime cost, and a loan adds interest, for example about $174 per month on $15,000 over 10 years at 7%. A lease or power purchase agreement needs little or no money down and may reflect the business credit still available through 2027, but payments rise over time and savings are smaller. Compare total cost over 25 years, not only the first-year bill.
Same usage, bill-based guide
Your Mobile Home 2026 target maps to roughly a $75/month electric bill nationally.
18.19¢/kWh — US average residential price. Source: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B (year-to-date through July 2026), residential average retail price (July 2026) (EIA)
Solar production
4.5 peak sun hours/day × 0.82 system derate. Approximate state-average daily solar resource (peak sun hours) based on NREL solar resource data (NSRDB); not location-specific — use NREL PVWatts for an address-level estimate. (NREL PVWatts)
Installed price
$3.00 per watt before incentives. Blended 2026 US residential installed price used by this site; EnergySage marketplace reported about $2.60/W (mid-2026); full-market medians are higher.
Federal tax credit
$0 for homeowner-owned systems installed in 2026 — the 30% §25D credit ended Dec 31, 2025 (IRS)
Net metering
National blend — solar assumed to offset 75% of the bill (87% in full-retail net-metering states, 55–70% elsewhere).
Estimates only — not tax, legal or financial advice. Get at least three installer quotes and confirm incentives with your utility and a tax professional.