cost per watt for northern california (bay area) with LG panels

[solarz]

I'm using a group called Sunwork (http://www.solarreviews.com/installe...jects-reviews/).

They will definitely *not* be able to finish the project this year (I started talking to them in September, and my install date is currently mid-December), but they might be worth considering.

They have an interesting business model: They're a non-profit that is trying to encourage usage of solar power. As such, they are providing a lower cost option by using volunteers for labor and cater specifically to entities that would otherwise have less of an incentive to install solar.

In the case of homeowners, this means they specifically cater to people with electric bills of less than $100 a month (because the payoff period is extended for households with low energy usage).

To give you an idea of the potential savings, the quote for my install is $11,950 (before tax credit) for a 4.48 kW system - REC panels and SolarEdge inverter and optimizers included. That's about $2.67 per kW.

I'm not sure what areas in the Bay Area they currently serve, and whether your bill qualifies you for their service, but it may be worth your while to contact them.

Note that they are also fairly restrictive on the types of roofs they'll install on (because of the use of volunteers) - see their website for details.

I worked with Sunwork for my installation. They charged around $2.7/watt for String inverter and $3/watt for Enphase. However, it took 1 month to see project manager and 3-4 months to have the installation. I could use their number to push down the local installer to get the same price and get the installation right away in 1 week on the similar Enphase option, but I pay for the permit. I guess I am lucky at that point my installer seems having some extra bandwidth.

The only concern for Sunwork is the warranty... I am not sure how fast the response can be if there is the problem. It is a bit hard to reach project managers due to their high demand and busy.
The second is volunteers drill holes on my roof. The project manager is perfect. I have no complain on their knowledge and system design. They did much better than any local installer and even national one. However, they do not deal with put the rack on the roof, mostly working on electrical part. Maybe I am too much concern. Sometimes I look back I think $2.7/watt will get my return of investment 10% faster.

[ulrich]

The quotes I mentioned was LG305 with ANY microinverter of my choice Enphase or SolarEdge. I didn't go with LG panels cause the price difference was not worth it for me. Paid $3.30/w for 26 Solar World 280 mono with SolarEdge

You may know the difference, but just in case: SolarEdge "optimizers" are not inverters. SolarEdge still uses a single central inverter, which works in conjunction with the optimizers.

My understanding is that the optimizers perform the MPPT function individually on each panel, allowing each panel to work at the optimum voltage for its particular conditions, but the output from the optimizers is DC, not AC as from a microinverter.

The nice thing about the optimizers is that in addition of providing per-panel diagnostics, they deal more elegantly with partial shade, and also allow unbalanced strings (for example, my system will have 4 southwest facing panels and 12 southeast facing panels), similar to what you would get from microinverters.

[imafan]

The quotes I mentioned was LG305 with ANY microinverter of my choice Enphase or SolarEdge. I didn't go with LG panels cause the price difference was not worth it for me. Paid $3.30/w for 26 Solar World 280 mono with SolarEdge

That's very nice price. how long ago did you sign? got quote from 7 installers and noone said they can go below $3.75/w with optimizer/micro. One said he couldn't do it because markup is already less than 14%. lg with string optimizer can go to ~3.50-$3.60

[dannieboiz]

That's very nice price. how long ago did you sign? got quote from 7 installers and noone said they can go below $3.75/w with optimizer/micro. One said he couldn't do it because markup is already less than 14%. lg with string optimizer can go to ~3.50-$3.60

I signed less than 3 weeks ago. Waiting for parts to come arrive.

My system is slightly larger than yours so it may have something to do with my pricing but I'm sure if you haggle you can get it at that. I actually received this price from at least 2 installers.