Your Opinion

[cody@schouten.us]

Does anybody have comments about the panels? Should I be concerned about the 2nd and 3rd companies recent entry into the market?

[JSchnee21]

Hi cody@schouten.us,

Canadian Solar, Hanwha QCell, Trina, SolarWorld (before they went bankrupt), etc. are all pretty similar in my opinion. Mid-range (from an efficiency standpoint), generally well made panels, from high volume reliable vendors. I assume all of the panels you're looking at have a 10yr defect warranty and roughly and 80% / ~20yr or so productivity warranty. Though you're likelihood of ever collecting on a warranty service from the panel manufacturer (any panel manufacturer) is pretty slim.

Your going to pay significantly more for a higher end panel from LG, Panasonic, Kyocera, or SunPower without much (if any) tangible benefit to show in return. For the pricing you've listed, you're probably looking at at least 30-40 cents more per watt to step up to LG, for example. If you needed the increased efficiency to meet your production target that would be one thing. But, if you have plenty of roof space then a mid range panel from a reliable vendor (with good MFG controls) is your best bet.

I also have 37 panels but decided to go with Panasonic to get the maximum system size (12.2kW DC), better warranty, and better (theoretically) temperature coefficient. This, together with other factors, lead to a much higher cost per watt ($3.21) than you have been quote.

With regard to vendor longevity and time in the business. It's hard to say. Definitely check reviews on Solarreviews.com, Google, Angie's List, BBB, etc. For my money I look more at reviews/references, recent project volume, a nice mix of commercial and residential installs, and customer service. Longevity is nice, but realistically few of the companies will have more than 5-10ys of business experience and who knows how much turnover there has been during that time. But, if it were me, I'd want at least 3 to 4 yrs of experience.

[Mike90250]

With an "odd" number of panels, you have to insure your MPPT controller can manage different sized array strings.