Lowest $/W for SunPower system

[NMB333]

Check your PM

not able to PM yet, so thanks by post.

I apologize to the moderators if this is breaking etiquette on this forum

[genesmasher]

New to the forum - Thank you to all of the posters with such helpful information. I see that many in San Diego are stating that the price is about $3.5/Watt for a non SP system. Most of my quotes to date have been closer to $4.25/watt. Am I missing something or have prices changed recently?

Check your PM

[NMB333]

To all you recent S.D. posters: $4.50 is about the lowest recent price I've seen for Sunpower. Other posters claim to have done better and I don't doubt them, just that I've not seen a lower contract price for systems using Sunpowe equipment. The most recent S.P. price I've seen was last week for an 8+ kW S.P. 327 system for $4.74/Watt. S.P. is good stuff, but very overpriced for what you get. Sort of like buying a Mercedes as a grocery hauler when a Ford is as fit for purpose. You can get similar annual output from quality, fit for purpose equipment for a lot less up front cost. Unless you have a lot of unusual conditions relative to your install, paying much more than $3.5/Watt for a non S.P. system means you're leaving money on the table. Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.

New to the forum - Thank you to all of the posters with such helpful information. I see that many in San Diego are stating that the price is about $3.5/Watt for a non SP system. Most of my quotes to date have been closer to $4.25/watt. Am I missing something or have prices changed recently?

[J.P.M.]

To all you recent S.D. posters: $4.50 is about the lowest recent price I've seen for Sunpower. Other posters claim to have done better and I don't doubt them, just that I've not seen a lower contract price for systems using Sunpowe equipment. The most recent S.P. price I've seen was last week for an 8+ kW S.P. 327 system for $4.74/Watt. S.P. is good stuff, but very overpriced for what you get. Sort of like buying a Mercedes as a grocery hauler when a Ford is as fit for purpose. You can get similar annual output from quality, fit for purpose equipment for a lot less up front cost. Unless you have a lot of unusual conditions relative to your install, paying much more than $3.5/Watt for a non S.P. system means you're leaving money on the table. Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.

[rfay]

This may be too much to ask, but can you PM with the vendor names? Thanks so much.

If possible could you send it to me as well, please?

Thank you in advance!

[rfay]

Can you PM me the company? Thanks.

Me too please!

[bronxnua]

My Sunpower System 35 Panels 327 Watt

Howdy All,

I'm interested to know what the lowest $/W people have gotten in So Cal for a SunPower system? I'm in San Diego, and won't necessarily go with a Sun Power system, but I'm interested if people are seeing the high prices that I am:

System 1:
8.3Kw
$4.71/W

System 2:
6.87Kw
$$4.50/W

Cheers!

For my system producing over 12K KW

Estimated Total Cost: $57,021.00

[Dori]

Check your PM

Thanks, Genesmasher. I wrote a long reply to your PM explaining our shopping experience but can't send it because I'm too new....Dori

[bradykp]

Some people might buy the SunPower panels for aesthetic reasons. Their solar panels don't have any bus bars in front of the cells, so their all-black solar panels are truly all black.

I received multiple quotes for SunPower E21-327 19 panel, 6213 watt system. I'm in Northern NJ. It's with an SMA inverter. Price quoted was $24,231, or $3.90/w.

The LG305 21 panel, 6,405 watt system with Solar Edge inverter was quoted at $22,418, or $3.50/w.

both systems are estimated to produce 7700 annually, which will cover my needs.

I got quoted as high as $5.95/w for SunPower system - but it included a 3 year SREC guarantee price of $225 and prepayment of SRECs from years 13-15 at $135/SREC. When this installer was met with competing figures, he came down to $30,000 and dropped the SREC guarantee and the prepayment. That's as far as he would go. Got another quote for a different size SunPower system (2 extra panels) for $28,500. I have the size somewhere, but it probably wouldn't be approved by PSEG (they won't approve systems > your 12 month usage at the time of site survey).

I'm excited to be installing, hope the process moves along quickly.

[genesmasher]

Genesmasher, could you please add me to the list of people who would appreciate knowing the company that provided your quote? I just got a very similar quote (21 LG 305s with an SE6000A-US inverter and optimizers) with a pricetag of over $24,000. That's three thousand dollars for one additional panel over your quote (ahem) and I also live in San Diego.
I'm new to this forum so I can't directly message you. Thank you!

Check your PM

[Dori]

Genesmasher, could you please add me to the list of people who would appreciate knowing the company that provided your quote? I just got a very similar quote (21 LG 305s with an SE6000A-US inverter and optimizers) with a pricetag of over $24,000. That's three thousand dollars for one additional panel over your quote (ahem) and I also live in San Diego.
I'm new to this forum so I can't directly message you. Thank you!

[quitepossibly]

If you don't mind the question, for what reasons are you specifically targeting Sunpower? I'm guessing it isn't cost effectiveness, but there are definitely some neat engineering aspects of the panels that could convince a tech minded person to buy them anyway.

Some people might buy the SunPower panels for aesthetic reasons. Their solar panels don't have any bus bars in front of the cells, so their all-black solar panels are truly all black.

[genesmasher]

This may be too much to ask, but can you PM with the vendor names? Thanks so much.

PM sent...

[chargers]

Here is the full list of quotes I got for my system (before tax credit), with the one I chose on top:


6.1 KW
20x LG305 + SolarEdge SE6000 + P320 optimizers
$21,180
$3.47/W


6.1 KW
20x LG305 + Enphase M250
$23,790
$3.90/W

6.16 KW
22x LG280 + SMA 6000TL
$22,790
$3.70/W

5.49 KW
18x LG305 + Enphase M250
$22,940
$4.18/W

5.88 KW
21x LG280 + SolarEdge SE5000 + P300 optimizers
$19,430
$3.30/W

6.4 KW
21x LG305 + Enphase M250
$24,544
$3.83/W

6.08 KW
19x SunPower 320 + SMA 6000TL
$24,255
$3.99/W

6.1 KW
20x LG305 + Fronius 6.0
$23,485
$3.85/W

6.90 KW
23x LG300 + LG285 micros
$27,740
$4.02/W

5.86 KW
17x SunPower X21/345 + SMA 5000TL
$27,037
$4.61/W

This may be too much to ask, but can you PM with the vendor names? Thanks so much.

[chargers]

I have a quote for ~$3.85 / watt for SP including dual mppt SMA inverter at ~ 5 Kw system size. I came to this calculation by assuming the electrical panel upgrade I needed was worth $2500 and pulling it out of the quotes. Lower end LG panels (w/ ever popular SE optimizers and inverters) at about 60 cents less per watt. I'm leaning heavily towards the LG as I don't see a clear ROI on the SP.

This is from a recommended (by you folks) installer here in San Diego without haggling.

Can you PM me the company? Thanks.