As we reach AEE Solar’s 40th anniversary as a business, we’ve been looking back at what solar looked like in 1979. The industry has come quite a ways from those early days and that change is most apparent when you look at the price of modules.

AEE Solar’s very own Brad Bassett remembers purchasing 30W modules in 1979 for the staggering price of $380 each! That works out to over $12 per watt, about 20 times what solar modules cost today. That’s a big price drop for only 40 years and we can only imagine what prices will look like in another 40 years. To the right is a photo of those original modules (which are still working, by the way!)

What do you remember from solar in 1979? We’d love to hear from you!