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Already gone thru the whole process, but figure I'd document it for others
Started out getting quotes from Semper Solaris (Sunpower) and Petersen Dean. Also went thru EnergySage to get some more quotes. Wound up pursuing detailed quotes and negotiation from Semper, Petersen and LA Solar Group (found via EnergySage)
Quote from Petersen Dean was the most ridiculous (surprisingly since Sunpower was in the mix). They quoted $29.9k (with an electrical panel upgrade) for a 6.8kW system. As he started running numbers at the house, I could see the despair on his face as he realized that in no way would this system would be practical. It was a 20x340W panel system with Solarworld panels and Enphase micros.
Went on to site evals with LA Solar and Semper.
LA Solar proposed a 19x330W Panasonic system with Solaredge P400 Optimizers and SE6000 Inverter and interconnect via a GMA (line side tap) so no panel upgrade was necessary. Quote was about 20.7k
Semper proposed a 6.4kW 20x320W Sunpower system with SolarEdge optimizers and inverter, and a 125A panel upgrade. Quote was about 22.5k, so actually not that obscene
My house is older (built in 1972) and the panel is center fed 100A. There was quite a concern that the panel couldn't be upgraded to 200A without running new cables (due to the unknown gauge of the current feed in from SCE) which would have involved trenching and a lot more cost. Thus, the line side tap was attractive, though Semper was pretty confident in the 125A upgrade as well
In the end I went with LA Solar Group. I liked their site plan better and just generally seemed far more competent. I really didn't like that the initial person sent by Semper didn't seem to know anything about the product. I'd ask questions and I'd get a blank stare. Not even an offer to get back to me with the answer or put me in contact with someone technical. I also had to have them revise their site plan because they ignored the timelapse video I did that showed significant afternoon shading on a portion of my roof and they went and planned to put panels there anyways... The final nail was actually after I made my decision and cancelled the contingent contract with them. I got an immediate call from the sales guy trying to persuade me and giving me a really hard sell to change my mind. After I finally got him off the phone I got an email with an obviously pre-canned document bashing Panasonic panels and their production guarantee and warranty. Of course the information was out of date as Panasonic had recently changed their warranty and now have a better production guarantee than Sunpower was offering. The email even ended with "Be prepared to sell against this at the kitchen table."
So, I made my decision on May 3. LA Solar had actually already started pulling permits and had gotten approval from SCE for the GMA. System installation was done on May 19. SCE GMA interconnect was done on May 26th and system was turned on "unofficially" at that point. City inspection occurred on June 9 and passed the first time around. Final install was actually done on that day (placards, stickers, etc). He also installed an additional grounding rod that while not technically required made the inspector feel better about the grounding with the GMA. PTO was granted on June 13 without a follow up visit from SCE (unexpected, but possibly because they did the GMA interconnect and had already seen the system). This means that I am in under the wire to be grandfathered into NEM1.0 for the next 25 years.
System is set up with 25 year warranties on the panels, inverter, optimizers, other components, and labor. System came with the 12 yr GSM comms kit, but I recently installed an Ethernet cable to get high rez data.
Panels are in a string of 8x at 255 degrees azimuth and 11x at 165 degrees azimuth. Tilt on the roof is 17 degrees. pvwatts modeling shows 9539 kWh per year (modeled as two separate arrays and then combined)
I've also had a Rainforest Eagle hooked up to my meter for over a year. That helped me understand my usage and optimize things, like replacing my pool pump with a variable speed. I also had 2 years of electricity usage history so I had a very good handle on how much electricity I was using, including 1 year after installing the new pool pump. SolarEdge and Eagle data is aggregating on pvoutput
I'm currently on the standard rate plan (not required to be on TOU due to NEM1.0). Still trying to figure out if (and which) TOU rate would work best. Biggest problem is that my wife does work from home which means I do have an electricity draw during the day for her, including AC if necessary.
Unfortunately, my inverter does seem to already have a problem and I am getting error code 153 every morning. I have to flip the inverter on and off every morning to get any production. LA Solar is working with SolarEdge to determine the problem and has already authorized a replacement inverter. My guess is infant mortality, at least that is my hope and that something more serious isn't wrong.
That's probably more detail than people really want, but l'm and engineer and detail is what I do
Let me know if anyone has questions, I'm pretty much an open book. I'm still working on tweaking my pvoutput setup. I need to look into setting up the tariff rates so I can get cost info from there. I'm also seeing a weirdness on the "% of peak calculation" calculation. It seems to be dividing the highest AC power output by the 6270W DC capacity of the system which isn't correct. Unless it's really trying to show peak efficiency? Maybe someone can clear that up
PVOutput is here:
https://tinyurl.com/yclffo62
Started out getting quotes from Semper Solaris (Sunpower) and Petersen Dean. Also went thru EnergySage to get some more quotes. Wound up pursuing detailed quotes and negotiation from Semper, Petersen and LA Solar Group (found via EnergySage)
Quote from Petersen Dean was the most ridiculous (surprisingly since Sunpower was in the mix). They quoted $29.9k (with an electrical panel upgrade) for a 6.8kW system. As he started running numbers at the house, I could see the despair on his face as he realized that in no way would this system would be practical. It was a 20x340W panel system with Solarworld panels and Enphase micros.
Went on to site evals with LA Solar and Semper.
LA Solar proposed a 19x330W Panasonic system with Solaredge P400 Optimizers and SE6000 Inverter and interconnect via a GMA (line side tap) so no panel upgrade was necessary. Quote was about 20.7k
Semper proposed a 6.4kW 20x320W Sunpower system with SolarEdge optimizers and inverter, and a 125A panel upgrade. Quote was about 22.5k, so actually not that obscene
My house is older (built in 1972) and the panel is center fed 100A. There was quite a concern that the panel couldn't be upgraded to 200A without running new cables (due to the unknown gauge of the current feed in from SCE) which would have involved trenching and a lot more cost. Thus, the line side tap was attractive, though Semper was pretty confident in the 125A upgrade as well
In the end I went with LA Solar Group. I liked their site plan better and just generally seemed far more competent. I really didn't like that the initial person sent by Semper didn't seem to know anything about the product. I'd ask questions and I'd get a blank stare. Not even an offer to get back to me with the answer or put me in contact with someone technical. I also had to have them revise their site plan because they ignored the timelapse video I did that showed significant afternoon shading on a portion of my roof and they went and planned to put panels there anyways... The final nail was actually after I made my decision and cancelled the contingent contract with them. I got an immediate call from the sales guy trying to persuade me and giving me a really hard sell to change my mind. After I finally got him off the phone I got an email with an obviously pre-canned document bashing Panasonic panels and their production guarantee and warranty. Of course the information was out of date as Panasonic had recently changed their warranty and now have a better production guarantee than Sunpower was offering. The email even ended with "Be prepared to sell against this at the kitchen table."
So, I made my decision on May 3. LA Solar had actually already started pulling permits and had gotten approval from SCE for the GMA. System installation was done on May 19. SCE GMA interconnect was done on May 26th and system was turned on "unofficially" at that point. City inspection occurred on June 9 and passed the first time around. Final install was actually done on that day (placards, stickers, etc). He also installed an additional grounding rod that while not technically required made the inspector feel better about the grounding with the GMA. PTO was granted on June 13 without a follow up visit from SCE (unexpected, but possibly because they did the GMA interconnect and had already seen the system). This means that I am in under the wire to be grandfathered into NEM1.0 for the next 25 years.
System is set up with 25 year warranties on the panels, inverter, optimizers, other components, and labor. System came with the 12 yr GSM comms kit, but I recently installed an Ethernet cable to get high rez data.
Panels are in a string of 8x at 255 degrees azimuth and 11x at 165 degrees azimuth. Tilt on the roof is 17 degrees. pvwatts modeling shows 9539 kWh per year (modeled as two separate arrays and then combined)
I've also had a Rainforest Eagle hooked up to my meter for over a year. That helped me understand my usage and optimize things, like replacing my pool pump with a variable speed. I also had 2 years of electricity usage history so I had a very good handle on how much electricity I was using, including 1 year after installing the new pool pump. SolarEdge and Eagle data is aggregating on pvoutput
I'm currently on the standard rate plan (not required to be on TOU due to NEM1.0). Still trying to figure out if (and which) TOU rate would work best. Biggest problem is that my wife does work from home which means I do have an electricity draw during the day for her, including AC if necessary.
Unfortunately, my inverter does seem to already have a problem and I am getting error code 153 every morning. I have to flip the inverter on and off every morning to get any production. LA Solar is working with SolarEdge to determine the problem and has already authorized a replacement inverter. My guess is infant mortality, at least that is my hope and that something more serious isn't wrong.
That's probably more detail than people really want, but l'm and engineer and detail is what I do
Let me know if anyone has questions, I'm pretty much an open book. I'm still working on tweaking my pvoutput setup. I need to look into setting up the tariff rates so I can get cost info from there. I'm also seeing a weirdness on the "% of peak calculation" calculation. It seems to be dividing the highest AC power output by the 6270W DC capacity of the system which isn't correct. Unless it's really trying to show peak efficiency? Maybe someone can clear that upPVOutput is here:
https://tinyurl.com/yclffo62
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