Coming Soon to NJ - 12.35 kW Hanwha DUO-G5 + SolarEdge Inverter/Optimizers by GPE

[NJturtlePower]

What model number were you quoted?
The current setapp inverters do NOT have a screen.
The older inverters do though.
https://www.solaredge.com/us/product...single-phase#/

SE11400H-US Inverter.jpg

[ButchDeal]

No doubt the SE consumption meter sounds cool, but not $800 cool. As long as it's producing and making my investment back ASAP I'm good.

Also seems that all SolarEdge Inverters now have a display standard, at least for the model number I was quoted.

What model number were you quoted?
The current setapp inverters do NOT have a screen.
The older inverters do though.

https://www.solaredge.com/us/products/pv-inverter/single-phase#/

[NJturtlePower]

Welcome NJturtlePower!

Tim from GPE is great, he was my salesman as well. I think I only paid $500 or so for the consumption monitoring (through GPE, I was one of their first consumption installs), but I love it. Being able to see and record consumption and production together in the SE portal and PVoutput is priceless from my perspective.

My System

https://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=58372&sid=52103

I definitely recommend Ethernet connectivity, and recommend getting the inverter that still has a screen over the screen less version.

Your JCPL kWh pricing seems high, you should shop around.

Any particular reason for the Hanwa Duo's? 325W per panel is not that much these days. It looks like you have room enough to do a 72-cell panel instead. I have 37 of Panasonic 330W, but my roof is tiny and I was trying to get every last DC drop (12.2kW DC)

Indoor install for the inverter (garage) would be great. Just be sure it is as close to your load center as possible to minimize voltage buildup from increase resistance between your inverter and your PoCo service line. You'll have a line side tap.

Thanks JSchnee21!

SE Consumption Meter sounds cool for sure, but not $800 cool.

As long as the system gets me from A to B and covers 100% of my current usage that is the goal, beyond that it's goal is to earn me ROI ASAP.

Also seems that all SolarEdge Inverters now have a display standard, at least for the model number I was quoted.
SolarEdge_HD-Wave.png

JCP&L rate was a basic calculation of my latest bill shown below. If that's high it's news to me, but soon to be a thing of the past with solar.

$169.75 - $2.83 / 1136 = $0.1469

JCPL Rate.jpg


I explained my panel choice in post #13, it's all I need at a better value..... here: https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...161#post398161

Sure, I was also offered 360W+ SunPower panels by Evoke but my ROI would likely be 10+ years.

It's like saying you need to drive 100 miles per day but on a budget, and want to enjoy the ride what would you drive?

A) Camry
B)Tesla a.k.a Hanwha Value vs Performance

C) Bentley

[JSchnee21]

Welcome NJturtlePower!

Tim from GPE is great, he was my salesman as well. I think I only paid $500 or so for the consumption monitoring (through GPE, I was one of their first consumption installs), but I love it. Being able to see and record consumption and production together in the SE portal and PVoutput is priceless from my perspective.

My System

https://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=58372&sid=52103

I definitely recommend Ethernet connectivity, and recommend getting the inverter that still has a screen over the screen less version.

Your JCPL kWh pricing seems high, you should shop around.

Any particular reason for the Hanwa Duo's? 325W per panel is not that much these days. It looks like you have room enough to do a 72-cell panel instead. I have 37 of Panasonic 330W, but my roof is tiny and I was trying to get every last DC drop (12.2kW DC)

Indoor install for the inverter (garage) would be great. Just be sure it is as close to your load center as possible to minimize voltage buildup from increase resistance between your inverter and your PoCo service line. You'll have a line side tap.

[sunpoweredev]

NJturtlePower I haven't even thought about mounting it in the basement. It's another option for me and will definitely consider it.

[NJturtlePower]

sunpoweredev So as usual I got a quick response from Tim with the following,

"We can typically install the equipment inside as long as is there space for it, you will discuss where you want everything the morning of our arrival with the foreman of your project. He will show you all the options and get your approval on where it will all go.

The SolarEdge Consumption monitoring add on would be $800"

So yeah, same quote as you, I'll skip on the consumption monitor, but definitely leaning towards the basement mounting of the inverter and revenue meter. This will also allow me an easy Ethernet cable connection for the inverter. I believe the cellular service is included for the first 5-years per the GPE contract, but this would be much more reliable IMO.

Solar System Screenshot.jpg

[J.P.M.]

BTW, I'm still undecided on whether to mount the inverter in the garage or outside. GPE is willing to go either way. My reasoning is that even though it is designed to be mounted outside, it will be better protected keeping it out of the elements. Plus I like to be able to read the LCD screen on the inverter without going outside. Only concern is if it gets loud or gets too hot in the summer if mounted inside. It actually would be great if it can heat up my garage in the winter, just not in the summer. Yes I want it both ways

Unless it's real noisy and the noise can't be dealt with by location to a far wall for example, the garage has the advantage of protection not only from the elements but also some protection from theft/vandalism.

As for heat buildup, good in winter, bad in summer. My inverter (5 kW) is in the (uninsulated) garage and I don't seem to notice any heat buildup. But, like many garages, mine's an energy sieve.

As a SWAG, back of the envelope exercise only, if your inverter is running at, say, 97% eff., the heat rejection to the garage will be something like 12.35 kW * 0.03 ~ = 370 W. with the array running at 100% output, or ~ 1,200 to 1,300 BTU/hr. kicked out of the inverter.

Somewhat as a reference, and no more than to a 1st approx., an ICE that's been operating and returned to the garage will kick off maybe something like maybe 3,000 to 4,000 BTU while it cools down in the same garage over maybe 6-8 hours, depending on the garage amb. temp.

Take the above FWIW.

[NJturtlePower]

BTW, I'm still undecided on whether to mount the inverter in the garage or outside. GPE is willing to go either way. My reasoning is that even though it is designed to be mounted outside, it will be better protected keeping it out of the elements. Plus I like to be able to read the LCD screen on the inverter without going outside. Only concern is if it gets loud or gets too hot in the summer if mounted inside. It actually would be great if it can heat up my garage in the winter, just not in the summer. Yes I want it both ways

About the roofing, I did ask about the Heritage Premium shingles and in my case they would add about $1500 to the quote. In Damien's opinion not worth the money as he said they are only slightly thicker so their benefit is more a cosmetic 3D effect once installed vs the standard Heritage line. He mentioned the GAF option as well and said it was a toss up really, GAF has a bigger marketing push and the pricing reflects that, so I'm sticking with my as quoted shingle and still deciding on color. I'm doing one skylight replacement as well, so just got that squared away and sent in a deposit since it will be outside of the solar loan since it was added too late in the process.

In regard to the inverter, revenue meter or consumption meter.... I'm definitely not looking to spend on unnecessary extras, but IF the inverter and/or revenue meter could be mounted next to my main panel in the basement I would probably prefer it given no extra or minimal cost. It's an unoccupied space anyways, so noise wouldn't be a concern. At the same time the external spot they proposed is under about an 18" second floor overhang and behind some bushes so the environmental exposure would be minimal, but it's worth a message to Tim I guess.

And yes, last years SREC program advantage would have been a great advantage, just couldn't swing it with the new car and other home expenses. Win some, you lose some...

[sunpoweredev]

BTW, I'm still undecided on whether to mount the inverter in the garage or outside. GPE is willing to go either way. My reasoning is that even though it is designed to be mounted outside, it will be better protected keeping it out of the elements. Plus I like to be able to read the LCD screen on the inverter without going outside. Only concern is if it gets loud or gets too hot in the summer if mounted inside. It actually would be great if it can heat up my garage in the winter, just not in the summer. Yes I want it both ways

[sunpoweredev]

Congrats! Same here, much of the information I sought were posted by JSchnee, JPM, ButchDeal et al here to which I'm most grateful. Had it not been the info they provided, I would've either gone with a questionable installer or not at all.

You and I have a very similar situation, down to the vehicle of choice I'm also redoing my roof with Costello, on which I delayed the whole project by almost a month while I pondered whether to do the roof (and also shopped around) being that it's only 15yrs old. Decided to go ahead and do it since my roof suffered blown off shingles on couple of occasions, and the repairs are not very pretty, plus the fact that the roof is builder's special super cheap shingles. Costello also defaulted to use Tamko shingles on my initial quote. I requested to go with GAF Timberline HD shingles instead for an additional $500. Probably not much of a difference from the Tamko since neither will be as good as the best Certainteed, but I went with it since it's only $500.

To my surprise, it took less than two weeks to get the approval on the permits after I gave the final go-ahead after deciding on the roof. We are scheduled for 3rd week of June for the solar installation. We have a very similar system, only difference is I went 37 Panasonic 330-watt panels. Everything else is the same.

I first approached Tesla for our solar install which did not go well, at all.. I then signed up at EnergySage and received a few quotes which I wasn't completely happy with, so my search continued until I stumbled onto this forum and found GPE. I'm not sure why EnergySage didn't connect me with GPE, but after I met with my sales rep, I signed with them soon after. Other than my sales rep shoving the SolarEdge cellular connection kit on me, I'm quite pleased with their service so far.

I wasn't aware that SolarEdge has an internal meter option until ButchDeal pointed out here, or else I would've asked about it. I did ask GPE about the consumption meter to which I was quoted an additional $800 and I declined. Perhaps you can get a better deal on it than I could.

I'm nowhere near up and running yet, but my biggest regret so far is not looking into it last year when the SREC term was 15 years up until October. That extra 5 years would've easily earned another $10k, and I don't think the PV system cost would've amounted to an extra $10k just 7 months ago.

The race is on - lets see which of us gets the PTO first

[NJturtlePower]

Congrats on getting the project started. Mine is also on the way.... waiting for the town approval. I too have a M3 and an MS and cant wait to be able to partially power them via our Sun.

Any reason for the brand panels you're using? I too will be using GPE but with Panasonic panels.

Peace!

Very cool on your solar project and Tesla's! I looked back and saw you had a pretty large system planned...not sure if that is what you ended up with.

So you are all installed and just waiting on PTO or just in the permit phase?

Reasoning for the Hanwha panels... value really, they are a solid mid-range panel. The Panasonics would have been about 34-cents more per watt or $4200 overall which would add about 2 extra years for ROI in my case. I don't need the higher power density either since even with the 325w panels I'm expected to be over 100% of my usage. Also comparing panel efficiencies (19.3% vs.19.7%) and 25-year expected degradation (85% vs. 90%) are very close between the two overall, the Panasonics just offering a longer warranty which is usually not a common point of failure anyway. Like most tech/electronics an extended warranty IMO is nothing more then expensive fine print you'll never use.

:: Fingers Crossed ::

[flowing]

Congrats on getting the project started. Mine is also on the way.... waiting for the town approval. I too have a M3 and an MS and cant wait to be able to partially power them via our Sun.

Any reason for the brand panels you're using? I too will be using GPE but with Panasonic panels.

Peace!

[SunEagle]

NJ has a decent SREC market https://www.srectrade.com/srec_markets/new_jersey

Ah. I get it. Nice to have that kind of incentive.

[macaddict]

Welcome to the club. Besides asking for the consumption meter as discussed above, I'd suggest (after your system is setup) to register your system in pvoutput.org so that we can compare our performance and brag about it.

[NJturtlePower]

an SREC is created per 1MWh not 1,000kW (note the h)

Corrected, thanks