Solar purchase in san jose, ca - 5.39 kW DC

[Hyacinth]

Designed to offset 75-80% of our electricity usage as my Pg&e average is $240/mo.

Considering 5,390 DC W system from 2 contractors:

1) 22 sunpower e19 245 panels w/ power-0ne inverter
Cost 29,376 - 8813 tax credit = 20,563
Predicted annual production is 9012 kwh

2) solarcity - 22 ling yi sleek panels 27,139 - 8,142 = 18,997
Annual production is 7822 kwh

Based on the 2 independent proposals, cost seems consistent.
Diffrence in net cost is about 1,500 more for sunpower but panels are the older E19. What i'm weighing is sunpower is more efficient but warranty is 10yr product and 25 year performance, sc is 20 year product and performance. $5.03/5.45 per watt initial cost or 3.50/3.82 after tax credit. No more csi funds available.

Is one better than another, or is neither a good deal? Suggestions and comments please for a newbie please. Thanks in advance.

[Ian S]

Did you price prepaid leases as well as outright purchase? I don't think anyone would question the superiority of the Sunpower panels over the ling yi ones.

[SoCalsolar]

The SP Quote is

The SP Quote is better. The extra money spent now will more than pay for itself over time with the higher production assuming you will use the electricity produced. You still should ding them for $500-$100 for not including the new SP 25 year warranty on production and product. 87% guaranteed production at 25 years, link below.

http://us.sunpowercorp.com/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3Dsp_warranty_2.0_legal_doc_residential_en%2BFINAL.pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1300286163024&ssbinary=true

[Hyacinth]

The 20-yr PPL I was quoted for 22 Sunpower E19 (5.39kW) panels was 21k. Just not sure why one would lease when the total cost of prepaid exceeds the net total of a purchase after the Fed tax credit.

Did you price prepaid leases as well as outright purchase? I don't think anyone would question the superiority of the Sunpower panels over the ling yi ones.

[Ian S]

The 20-yr PPL I was quoted for 22 Sunpower E19 (5.39kW) panels was 21k. Just not sure why one would lease when the total cost of prepaid exceeds the net total of a purchase after the Fed tax credit.

I suppose some might want the "security" of having all problems taken care of for 20 years and don't want the hassle and wait for the tax credits. That said, outright purchase is probably the way to go in your case. As for the solar city quote, was that outright purchase? If so, you may be able to do much better with a purchase quote from another installer since SC is primarily interested in leasing.

[Hyacinth]

We decided on 6.12Kw (24 Canadian Solar CS6p-255M mono panels w/ M215 Enphase microinverters) for an upfront cost of about 24k. I like the SP panels but the combined factors of 2 additional panels, a microinverter system, and $5k less upfront convinced us to go this route as we think it's a better overall value. I was thinking of upgrading to Mitsubishi PV-MLE260HD panels but it adds almost 2k to the total price.