Solar Edge or Enphase

[sunforhart]

Hello All,

Need your advice.


I have two quotes but one will give a solar edge and the other one will give Enphase.

The system is LG 34 panels for the 320's.

The first company is RGS and the panels are the same for both LG Neon 2 black and the quote is $37K with Enphase. ($3.40/watt)
Second Company which again has the same panels LG Neon 2 Black and quote is $34K with Solar edge. ($3.125/watt) This is a new company do have good references.

Both of them have a 25yrs warranty for the inverters.

If it is your house what would you choose and why.

Thank you,

[max2k]

Hello All,

Need your advice.


I have two quotes but one will give a solar edge and the other one will give Enphase.

The system is LG 34 panels for the 320's.

The first company is RGS and the panels are the same for both LG Neon 2 black and the quote is $37K with Enphase. ($3.40/watt)
Second Company which again has the same panels LG Neon 2 Black and quote is $34K with Solar edge. ($3.125/watt) This is a new company do have good references.

Both of them have a 25yrs warranty for the inverters.

If it is your house what would you choose and why.

Thank you,

I'd look first why do I need such big system: 34 x 320 = 10,880 W
Then I'd look if I have any shading. If I do then I'd go with Solar Edge . Optimizers are much simpler than microinverters. If there's no shading I'd use string inverter.
For the system of that size your quotes are kind of high.

[J.P.M.]

Any shade ?
Where are you located ?
What's your annual load ?
What are prices for PV like in your area ?
Any conservation efforts considered before PV ?
Do you understand the solar process before you throw money at your electric bill ?
Why only two quotes ?

[sunforhart]

I had gotten about 7 quotes but boiled it down to these two. Some of the companies dont have LG.

have a fairly big size house (4500sq feet) South side has minimal shade which will house about 25 panels.

the reason i need this size is due to my energy needs i ise about 18-19k per year. Where i am i will be using the feed in tariff at present i pay about .17/watt and with the solar system they (my utility) will be paying .35/ watt.

I know i wont offset my electrical bill 100% but with tis i am able to get my investment back in about 7yrs depending which one i go with.

i liked sun power but its about 7k more. So settled on this. I love the way they look and they are efficient, but saving 7k more was more important for me.

The average price is about 3.25-3.50/watt

located in RI.


some of my neighbors got it with silfab and they paid about 3.95/watt in April this year.


mine main question was is it worth spending that much on the inverters if the installers have the same reputation.

[ButchDeal]

mine main question was is it worth spending that much on the inverters if the installers have the same reputation.

you will get more production from the SolarEdge system.

have you looked at the Panasonic 330w modules? a bit more efficient than the LGs you list and better warranty.

Do you have any other roof faces that are useful for solar? (east or west) or is this south facing the only area?

[J.P.M.]

I had gotten about 7 quotes but boiled it down to these two. Some of the companies dont have LG.

have a fairly big size house (4500sq feet) South side has minimal shade which will house about 25 panels.

the reason i need this size is due to my energy needs i ise about 18-19k per year. Where i am i will be using the feed in tariff at present i pay about .17/watt and with the solar system they (my utility) will be paying .35/ watt.

I know i wont offset my electrical bill 100% but with tis i am able to get my investment back in about 7yrs depending which one i go with.

i liked sun power but its about 7k more. So settled on this. I love the way they look and they are efficient, but saving 7k more was more important for me.

The average price is about 3.25-3.50/watt

located in RI.


some of my neighbors got it with silfab and they paid about 3.95/watt in April this year.


mine main question was is it worth spending that much on the inverters if the installers have the same reputation.

With min. shade, I and some others are in the camp of string inverters over micro inverters, keeping as much of the electronics off the roof and out of that hasher environment, with a lot fewer parts and therefore fewer things to go wrong. KISS principle applies. String inverters systems also tend to cost a bit less.

Sunpower is good stuff, but not worth the high up front premium as you seem to agree. LG also enjoys a good reputation. There are other quality mfgs. as well.

Beyond some basic level of quality, panels have become close to a commodity item. Warranties tend to be more gimmick/marketing tools, with any (and rather rare) panel failures usually being infant mortality which would be covered under most any reputable panel's warranty.

Whatever the equipment, check the warranty anyway, particularly if you are near the ocean. Many panel mfgs. have disclaimers/exclusions for salt environments.

I don't know prices in your area, but these days, CA stuff is starting to become available for ~ --->>> ~ $3.00/STC Watt.

I'd also keep an ear to the ground to listen for any scuttlebutt about changes in utility tariffs your POCO may be contemplating. There's a real pushback from POCO's these days against PV and its impact on POCO profits that may affect long term cost effectiveness of PV.