8.7kW system coming Orange County, SoCal

[s_man]

P.M.s sent

[irvinephotographer]

P.M.s sent

Thank you!

[solarfrank]

Some companies are claiming they have been in business for 20 years, but CSLB can't show you full history , you can see it when was issue first time but you can't see if it was inactive for many years. You can go deep in research and check workers comp history, if they are exempt they can't have employees, just the owner of the business.

[s_man]

Some companies are claiming they have been in business for 20 years, but CSLB can't show you full history , you can see it when was issue first time but you can't see if it was inactive for many years. You can go deep in research and check workers comp history, if they are exempt they can't have employees, just the owner of the business.

Good ideas. I didn't know workcomp would have more details.

[NESTCAFE]

Yeah, I checked B & C. They have mostly good reviews from yelp and no serious complaints in BBB. Workcomp and insurance ok. Now price of B is a bit less than C and Bob said they even do extra sub panel for his EV(free, I believe ).

Please PM me Company B and C info. I am in La Habra with similar requirement. Thanks.

[s_man]

Please PM me Company B and C info. I am in La Habra with similar requirement. Thanks.

Pm sent

[s_man]

Layout

Today the installer sent me 1st sketch of lay out. South facing and East facing. I did tell them that it's best if we could fit everything on to South facing roof if possible because I don't want some people who has been painting graffiti on the sidewalk feel like throwing some rock to the panels. But anyway, I thought West facing is better than East facing. Any input? Thanks!
20150519_230307.jpg

[iplaytowin]

Another pm for me please!

Hi,

Mind sending me a PM on the three companies you got bids for? I am in long beach and have similar requirements.

Thanks so much!

[iplaytowin]

May I also ask what your final price per KW was with company "B"?

Thank you for taking the time to post. It saved me from posting another thread with the same question

[s_man]

Hi,

Mind sending me a PM on the three companies you got bids for? I am in long beach and have similar requirements.

Thanks so much!

Pm sent.

[gvl]

But anyway, I thought West facing is better than East facing. Any input? Thanks!
[ATTACH]6754[/ATTACH]

1. Compare PVWatts estimates for the same array size but East/West orientation for your location to get an idea if one side is better than the other in terms of overall production.
2. Consider specifics of your installation such as shading from trees, hills, chimneys, and surrounding structures.
3. Do you have any vents or the like that get in the way on either side making installation more difficult?
4. If you're considering switching to TOU you need to use the on-peak hours and rates from your utility, your actual hourly usage, and hourly PVWatts estimates to figure out which side will produce more credits.

[s_man]

1. Compare PVWatts estimates for the same array size but East/West orientation for your location to get an idea if one side is better than the other in terms of overall production.
2. Consider specifics of your installation such as shading from trees, hills, chimneys, and surrounding structures.
3. Do you have any vents or the like that get in the way on either side making installation more difficult?
4. If you're considering switching to TOU you need to use the on-peak hours and rates from your utility, your actual hourly usage, and hourly PVWatts estimates to figure out which side will produce more credits.

Thanks gvl, haven't thought of that simple great tool.
From PVWatts, 2,700kwh/year East facing vs 2,940kwh/year West facing for those panel. So West facing is better a bit, 8.9% difference. Right now at 11am the east facing has shading from a nearby tree too. Probably will go with West facing.

[gvl]

Thanks gvl, haven't thought of that simple great tool.
From PVWatts, 2,700kwh/year East facing vs 2,940kwh/year West facing for those panel. So West facing is better a bit, 8.9% difference. Right now at 11am the east facing has shading from a nearby tree too. Probably will go with West facing.

Also have them do analysis with the SunEye shade device, perhaps they already did and that is why they chose the East side. West should also be better for TOU which may be something you want to switch to in the future if you get an EV. With the East-facing panels you won't be making expensive electricity in the late afternoon. For example, I'm with SCE and some of their TOU plans define on-peak as 2-8pm, my SE oriented system, which is yet to be turned on, will not be producing much after 4pm, and probably nothing after 5pm in the summer, and it will be worse in the winter, so I'll be missing out during those hours of production when the price per kWh is the highest.

[NESTCAFE]

Pm sent

Thank you.

[s_man]

Update

Today the installer's agent called me back and told me they would have to use 2 small inverter SE3000 and SE5000 instead of 1 inverter SE10000. According to him the designer said 2 strings of the inverter has to be the same odd/even number of panels; could not do 1 string odd number (19) and the other string even number (10) of panels. Anyone with SolarEdge inverter had this problem? Thanks for your input!