Solar City info needed

[russ]

You can be sure that (in the case of a lease or PPA) SolarCity keeps the federal tax credit for themselves.

It is all part of the price.

[golfermanrab999]

Competitive quote

Make sure you get at least 3 other quotes, thats what I didnt and I found a much better pricing with the same guarantees!

[Theboxman]

I didn't read all of the posts, did anyone mention a prepayment of the twenty-year lease?
I have a 10 kW system from solar city on my roof total cost was $26,000. It was almost to good to be true.

[KRenn]

I didn't read all of the posts, did anyone mention a prepayment of the twenty-year lease?
I have a 10 kW system from solar city on my roof total cost was $26,000. It was almost to good to be true.

How long ago was this? That actually isn't that great of a price considering that you paid $2.60 a watt and got no additional tax credits.

[Theboxman]

How long ago was this? That actually isn't that great of a price considering that you paid $2.60 a watt and got no additional tax credits.

Next month will be 3 years, what is a good deal per watt these days?

[KRenn]

Next month will be 3 years, what is a good deal per watt these days?

$2.75 a watt.

[rocketcity]

I have followed the wise advice in this thread and now have several different quotes (SolarCity, Sungevity, REC-Sunrun-Costco, Verengo, and Real Goods Solar (RGS).

RGS offers the outright purchase option only (with an interesting solar loan from Green Sky Bank).
All the others offer various combinations of lease, PPA, and purchase options.

Although I started this process several months ago thinking that a SolarCity lease was a slam dunk, I'm now leaning toward an outright purchase if I can get the right loan (either home equity or a "solar" loan).

While I sort out the loan, I am commencing to negotiate all options with each of the vendors.

Just to clear up one issue that came up earlier in this thread:
The lease companies always offer 2 kinds of lease payments: "fixed" (in which the monthly bill stays exactly the same for 20 years) and "escalating" (in which the bill increases at a certain percentage once a year).

[Volusiano]

$2.75 a watt.

Mine is $2.50/DC Watt before incentives purchased in AZ. This is with Canadian Solar and SMA string inverters. I think the pricing varies a lot depending on where you're at, so good deal in one place doesn't translate to good deal in another place.

[rocketcity]

Just to clear up one issue that came up earlier in this thread:
The lease companies always offer 2 kinds of lease payments: "fixed" (in which the monthly bill stays exactly the same for 20 years) and "escalating" (in which the bill increases at a certain percentage once a year).

Here is just one example of this:
One vendor offered me a fixed lease for a 6.25KW system at 17.6 cents per kWh.
They also offered the same 6.25KW system with a lease at 14.54 cents per kWh in year 1 with a 2.9% annual escalator.

To me, the critical factor when deciding between a fixed lease and a lease with an escalator is how long you are going to stay in the house. In my case, there is a good chance that we will sell the house in 10 years. So, I look closely at the price per kWh in year 10.

Here is price per kWh in year 10 for the 6.25KW example above:
- fixed lease = 17.6 cents per kWh
- lease with 2.9% escalator = 16.5 cents per kWh

So, in this example, if there good chance that we will sell the house in 10 years, it makes the most sense to get the lease with the 2.9% escalator.

[rocketcity]

Here are two more examples from my research (for a system in Marin County, San francisco Bay Area)

Purchase pricing
Of the 5 vendors I am talking to (the same one that I mentioned above in my 6.25KW example above) offers an outright purchase of the system for $21,957 (or $15,370 after the federal tax credit). At $15,370, that's about $2.46 per Watt and the second-lowest price per Watt of the 5 vendors. The other purchase prices range from $2.46 per Watt to $3.43 per Watt (after the federal tax credit and other incentives).

Prepaid PPAs
The prices from the 4 vendors that offer prepaid PPAs range from $2.39 per Watt to $4.25(!) per Watt (after the federal tax credit and other incentives).

[KRenn]

Here are two more examples from my research (for a system in Marin County, San francisco Bay Area)

Purchase pricing
Of the 5 vendors I am talking to (the same one that I mentioned above in my 6.25KW example above) offers an outright purchase of the system for $21,957 (or $15,370 after the federal tax credit). At $15,370, that's about $2.46 per Watt and the second-lowest price per Watt of the 5 vendors. The other purchase prices range from $2.46 per Watt to $3.43 per Watt (after the federal tax credit and other incentives).

Prepaid PPAs
The prices from the 4 vendors that offer prepaid PPAs range from $2.39 per Watt to $4.25(!) per Watt (after the federal tax credit and other incentives).

It makes it a lot easier to look at all the prices before any incentives are added in. What is the bottomline gross per watt pricing that each company is offering you, what are they offering you(equipment) and is it a lease or a purchase?

[rocketcity]

What is the bottomline gross per watt pricing that each company is offering you

So you mean before the federal tax credit?

Purchase plans:
Sunpower - 5.4 kW @ $28,075
SolarCity - 6 kW @ $29,400
Sungevity - 6.25 kW @ $21,957
RGS - 6.6 kW @ $27,506
REC/Sunrun - 6.2 kW @ $21,653

Pre-paid PPAs
SolarCity - 6 kW @ $25,490
Sungevity - 6.25 kW @ $15,365
REC/Sunrun - 6.2 kW @ $14,845

Obviously, the the federal tax credit is factored in to the pre-paid PPAs.
Since there are no "solar" loans for buying pre-paid PPAs and I don't have the cash on hand, the pre-paid PPA option probably won't work for me.

[KRenn]

So you mean before the federal tax credit?

Purchase plans:
Sunpower - 5.4 kW @ $28,075
SolarCity - 6 kW @ $29,400
Sungevity - 6.25 kW @ $21,957
RGS - 6.6 kW @ $27,506
REC/Sunrun - 6.2 kW @ $21,653

Pre-paid PPAs
SolarCity - 6 kW @ $25,490
Sungevity - 6.25 kW @ $15,365
REC/Sunrun - 6.2 kW @ $14,845

Obviously, the the federal tax credit is factored in to the pre-paid PPAs.
Since there are no "solar" loans for buying pre-paid PPAs and I don't have the cash on hand, the pre-paid PPA option probably won't work for me.

It still boggles my mind how pricy solar still is in NorCal. From the looks of it Sungevity is a good one as long as they are using some high quality inverters now. The company they used in the past isnt one that I am very fond of.


REC is decent but if their panels still have that crappy pro rated warranty, i would think twice about them.


SolarCity and SunPower are just laughably pricy.

[JCP]

It still boggles my mind how pricy solar still is in NorCal. From the looks of it Sungevity is a good one as long as they are using some high quality inverters now. The company they used in the past isnt one that I am very fond of.


REC is decent but if their panels still have that crappy pro rated warranty, i would think twice about them.


SolarCity and SunPower are just laughably pricy.

SolarCity is just not interested in selling the installs at all. They want to compete with the utilities. $3.50 a Watt before incentives seems to be on the low end of what people pay here in Norcal.

[rocketcity]

Here's an updated table of the gross $ per watt before the federal tax credit and incentives.
(I added a column in my spreadsheet.)

Purchase plans:
Sunpower - 5.4 kW @ $28,075 = $5.20 per watt
SolarCity - 6 kW @ $29,400 = $4.90 per watt
Sungevity - 6.25 kW @ $21,957 = $3.51 per watt
RGS - 6.6 kW @ $27,506 = $4.17 per watt
REC/Sunrun - 6.2 kW @ $21,653 = $3.49 per watt

Pre-paid PPAs
SolarCity - 6 kW @ $25,490 = $4.25 per watt
Sungevity - 6.25 kW @ $15,365 = $2.46 per watt
REC/Sunrun - 6.2 kW @ $14,845 = $2.39 per watt

(Obviously, the the federal tax credit is factored in to the pre-paid PPAs.)