Opinions on Sunpower system

[Sudhakar2k]

First post but really wanted to see what people had to say.

Location: St. Louis Metro

We just agreed to go with the following system:

8.97 kW system with Sunpower 345W panels
2 sunpower inverters
Tigo MM-2ES DC-DC Optimizers which I insisted upon.
Cost before rebates: $4.28 per watt.


The other option would have been a Canadian Solar system
9.00 kW system with 36 Canadian Solar CS6P-250M-EA panels
built-in microinverters
Cost before rebates: ~$3.40-$3.50 per watt

My question is do you guys think it was a good deal on the sunpower system? Or would the Canadian Solar system have been a better choice? The 9kW Canadian would have been tight on the roof, and have always been a sunpower fanboy. Thanks in advance for the comments.

[silversaver]

Both are good, depends on if you have shading issue or not. enough roof space without shading?

I think base on your request, you have answer within yourself already

[Sudhakar2k]

Both are good, depends on if you have shading issue or not. enough roof space without shading?

I think base on your request, you have answer within yourself already

I definitely prefer sunpower, i was just wondering if my preference truly justified the added premium. But there would have been more shading issues with the canadian solar. I uploaded a little figure with shading. The lower left corner is also shaded in the winter months by trees.

[silversaver]

String inverter doesn't like shading even with new SMA TL-US22 or Powerone with dual mpp trackers. If any panel were shaded, the whole string affected.

I have very little shading that only happen in late afternnon were production were so low to worry about. The picture were taken around 7pm Summer time.

My roof were facing SW about 245. I choose string inverter over micro inverters, I also pick Bosch discontinued panels over Sunpower.... I drive a Mercedes but no need to put a Mercedes on the roof.

[Naptown]

That sounds like a good deal to me.
The optimizers will take care of the shading issue.

[J.P.M.]

First post but really wanted to see what people had to say.

Location: St. Louis Metro

We just agreed to go with the following system:

8.97 kW system with Sunpower 345W panels
2 sunpower inverters
Tigo MM-2ES DC-DC Optimizers which I insisted upon.
Cost before rebates: $4.28 per watt.


The other option would have been a Canadian Solar system
9.00 kW system with 36 Canadian Solar CS6P-250M-EA panels
built-in microinverters
Cost before rebates: ~$3.40-$3.50 per watt

My question is do you guys think it was a good deal on the sunpower system? Or would the Canadian Solar system have been a better choice? The 9kW Canadian would have been tight on the roof, and have always been a sunpower fanboy. Thanks in advance for the comments.

Seems like good prices. Depending on state incentives, bottom line price differential may be small. Annual output differential will likely be close w/ S.P. a bit higher perhaps. You having buyer's remorse or 2d thoughts ?