Hi all. Long time stalker first time poster.
I've been frantically researching a solar system and my situation is unusual so I'd like to give a lot of info, ask several questions, and hopefully get much useful feedback.
I have linked below [hopefully] images of my roof. I live in NY (zone 5) about an hour North of the city. The majority of my roof is perfectly flat and there are a couple large castle things that stick up in the air causing occasional shading. I'm going to take a time-lapse video of it as soon as the weather gets a little better. Due to the shading, limited roof size, and extraordinary usage I've been considering the SunPower panels with the micro inverters. The thing is my house is mostly under construction right now and we own the construction company that's building the surrounding neighborhood. Due to this we were figuring maybe we could purchase the equipment and install it ourselves. We have the manpower and I've taken a number of astronomy and physics classes to lock down on the science aspect of it. We would like to get this setup done sooner than later. However we're currently building a barn, rec center, and other building which we could also cover in panels. We use about 3,200kwh per month but that may change drastically as we don't occupy the entire house yet and when we replace our current vehicles they will certainly be electric. This is my situation.
Now my questions.....
1. Can SunPower panels/system be purchased wholesale like I see for LG and others or can you only get them installed? The new Equinox system looks appealing but maybe it's terrible I don't know.
2. As you can see in the images the majority of the panel space is a flat roof so the panels would have to be angled up. What's the current standing on sun tracking motors etc? Is there a particular brand that's popular that I can research? Should I expect worthwhile gains if the panel is tracking the sun? I'd imagine I should.
3. The micro-inverters are beneficial to a system that would occasionally have a few panels here or there shaded correct? Is it a dramatic loss with a standard DC system if I have say 47 panels but 2 are in shade?
4. Does one still get the 30% tax credit if one buys the materials and does it oneself?
5. Can Any of these systems be connected to a Powerwall2 (or similar)? We were planning on getting a giant generator but maybe we could take that money and put it into Powerwalls instead if they ever come out.
6. My extremely rough calculations suggest I could fit about 47 42"x62" panels on the roof in all those various locations. I'm certain the real life number would be less. This would not be enough to cover my entire energy usage. Is it ok to add onto a system later on? For example if 5 or 10 years down the line I add an array in the yard would I be able to plumb that into the same system?
7. I see there are new LGs that are coming out which look very efficient the LG NeON R series. Would there be any direct advantage to the SunPower over these other than the micro inverters?
8. Can I add micro-inverters to LG panels to help with the shading issues if I'm not able to purchase the SunPower ones direct?
9. It's not impossible that our development we're building may use 500 or so panels in the new couple of years. Where would the best place be to get a large quantity of panels for as cheap as possible?
10. Should I just say F it and have SunPower come and check it out and install it? lol
11. BUT will they be in business in 5 years much less 25? lol
12. The primary reason we're doing this is environmental and energy independence, not financial savings, however we don't want to simply burn money on this either.
Thank you very much!
Sorry for the onslaught of the first post.
All the very very best,
Gene
Roof01.jpgRoof03.jpgRoof02.jpgRoof09.jpgRoof08.jpg
I've been frantically researching a solar system and my situation is unusual so I'd like to give a lot of info, ask several questions, and hopefully get much useful feedback.
I have linked below [hopefully] images of my roof. I live in NY (zone 5) about an hour North of the city. The majority of my roof is perfectly flat and there are a couple large castle things that stick up in the air causing occasional shading. I'm going to take a time-lapse video of it as soon as the weather gets a little better. Due to the shading, limited roof size, and extraordinary usage I've been considering the SunPower panels with the micro inverters. The thing is my house is mostly under construction right now and we own the construction company that's building the surrounding neighborhood. Due to this we were figuring maybe we could purchase the equipment and install it ourselves. We have the manpower and I've taken a number of astronomy and physics classes to lock down on the science aspect of it. We would like to get this setup done sooner than later. However we're currently building a barn, rec center, and other building which we could also cover in panels. We use about 3,200kwh per month but that may change drastically as we don't occupy the entire house yet and when we replace our current vehicles they will certainly be electric. This is my situation.
Now my questions.....
1. Can SunPower panels/system be purchased wholesale like I see for LG and others or can you only get them installed? The new Equinox system looks appealing but maybe it's terrible I don't know.
2. As you can see in the images the majority of the panel space is a flat roof so the panels would have to be angled up. What's the current standing on sun tracking motors etc? Is there a particular brand that's popular that I can research? Should I expect worthwhile gains if the panel is tracking the sun? I'd imagine I should.
3. The micro-inverters are beneficial to a system that would occasionally have a few panels here or there shaded correct? Is it a dramatic loss with a standard DC system if I have say 47 panels but 2 are in shade?
4. Does one still get the 30% tax credit if one buys the materials and does it oneself?
5. Can Any of these systems be connected to a Powerwall2 (or similar)? We were planning on getting a giant generator but maybe we could take that money and put it into Powerwalls instead if they ever come out.
6. My extremely rough calculations suggest I could fit about 47 42"x62" panels on the roof in all those various locations. I'm certain the real life number would be less. This would not be enough to cover my entire energy usage. Is it ok to add onto a system later on? For example if 5 or 10 years down the line I add an array in the yard would I be able to plumb that into the same system?
7. I see there are new LGs that are coming out which look very efficient the LG NeON R series. Would there be any direct advantage to the SunPower over these other than the micro inverters?
8. Can I add micro-inverters to LG panels to help with the shading issues if I'm not able to purchase the SunPower ones direct?
9. It's not impossible that our development we're building may use 500 or so panels in the new couple of years. Where would the best place be to get a large quantity of panels for as cheap as possible?
10. Should I just say F it and have SunPower come and check it out and install it? lol
11. BUT will they be in business in 5 years much less 25? lol
12. The primary reason we're doing this is environmental and energy independence, not financial savings, however we don't want to simply burn money on this either.
Thank you very much!
Sorry for the onslaught of the first post.
All the very very best,
Gene
Roof01.jpgRoof03.jpgRoof02.jpgRoof09.jpgRoof08.jpg
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