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can you PM me your quotes and installers please?
Will: Can you please send me the names of your installers and quotes ? I would love to get similar prices for my installNewby here from the Silicon Desert formerly known as Silicon Valley. Uber serious drought conditions. Maybe I should also start looking for a desalination forum.
With a batch of quotes in hand, I have been scouring the pages here, as well as CSI, to try to ascertain $/watt standards/ranges for the SF/Silicon Valley area for a 3.5-3.7kw system. Sparring with vendors for a week or so, here’s what I have collected:
1) 13 SolarWorld 275w + SMA. 3.575kw@$3.80/w = $13,585
2) 13 Mitsubishi 265w + SMA. 3.445kw@$3.75/w = $12,922
3) 14 Mitsubishi 265w + SolarEdge 5000. 3.71kw@$3.83/w = $14,200
4) 13 Suniva 270w+SMA. 3.51W@$3.85/w = $13,515
I’m leaning towards either 1) or 3). PG&E just cranked up Tier 1 rates, so I want to cover 80+% of our energy use. And I suspect with solar, we will use more energy (i.e., turn on the A/C more often in the summer).
So two questions:
1) I have seen people post $/watt numbers much lower than these. One person in San Diego quoted “just south of $3.50”. Another posted somewhere (can’t find it now!) “Kyocera runs about $3.50 - $3.75/Watt in So. CA, LG about $3.40-$3.70/Watt”. I recall seeing much lower numbers – heading towards $3/watt - in other states. I think someone from Maryland quoted around $3.20…which is phenomenal.
So my question is: am I not grinding hard enough on these guys? A couple of vendors have been willing to move – and they are reflected in the numbers above. Others choose not to respond to my ‘suggestions’ for a better deal, and are sitting at or north of $4.00. Needless to say, they won’t get my business.
Or – are prices in the Bay Area just higher than everywhere else?
I also do not see stats on CSI that support lower prices per watt. In fact – doing a search on the following web page – for 2014, Residential only, and within 50 miles of my zip code – prices for comparably sized systems are between $5.64-$5.99/watt. That makes no sense:
I also downloaded the database from CSI – and again, from what I see – numbers below $4.00/watt are the exception – not the norm – even for installs over the last 6 months.
Am I looking in the wrong place on CSI? Is there some place or query on CSI that shows that 3.5kW systems in the bay area really should be around $3.50/w?
2) Per the Mitsubishi quotes above, one installer is pricing systems with SolarEdge (5000) higher than with SMA (3800). He says it’s not due to different capacities. He says that the cost of the optimizers makes SolarEdge more expensive. Other installers don’t care which inverter I choose: SE, Enphase or SMA – the system price is the same.
Is the first guy blowing smoke about SE costing more? Or are the other guys taking a margin hit, because they have already padded the system price enough? I don't need SE, because there's no shade problem - now. I do want panel monitoring. A single panel with low production might indicate dirt, or bird poo, or something requiring attention. Seems useful to me.
Thanks for reading the core dump on my “Solar Quest”!Comment
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jonathan, did you ever end up going forward with an install? What did you settle on? How is it working out?Comment
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Can any of the pros name or PM me a few of the cost-effective installers in SF bay area? I'm looking to install a ~4kW system, ideally before NEM 1.0 runs out. Many thanks for helping out.Comment
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Can't PM on the new forums, but you can email me at sptalk at vmdaemon dot org if you want details on who I used for an install in SF proper. They're one of the city certified installers so that's an upside if you're actually in the city. Once my new roof was finished, they were able to finish the solar install in about a week (including permits and inspection). (there's no referral fee/bonus, so there's nothing in it for me) -
I used All Bay Solar for a 3.42 kW system. They were straightforward to deal with, competitively priced (certainly for SF proper, at least), and quite quick. They're also one of a small number of installers who are GoSolarSF city certified (and a "city installer", employing a certain number of SF residents), which effectively took another $0.76/watt off the cost of my install, which put them substantially ahead cost-wise of what would normally have been other somewhat cheaper installers. No reviews yet on https://www.solarreviews.com/install...solar-reviews/ - I may try adding one in a couple months (my install is recent, but so far all good -- certainly makes me take much more notice of the sunny days!)
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Hi Itbighorn - thank you for your post and the detailed email. I thought it was highly informative and I am sure I will be referring back to that email multiple times as I get closer to my install. I much appreciate you for taking time to share such a great deal of info/tips. As you mentioned I am looking at east bay installer YES and couple of other installers (Mother Nature, Green Power). So far receiving quotes $3.5/ 3.4 per W for LG/Solarworld panels with microinverters. I will touch base with All Bay also. Finally thinking of checking with Renevu to get a sense of saving if I were to buy the system myself and hire a gen contractor. I will keep you posted how it goes. -VenkiComment
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I have a 3.5 kva inverter being charged by electric power with a battery bank of 48volts. A s aresult of unsteady supply of electricity a 48 volt solar panel was installed to charge the batteries. Hoever, it appears when there is elecricity this will ovrride the charging fro the solar panel. How can i overcome this problem so that i can maximise my solar even when electricity is available.Comment
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