Looking at pre-paid lease for solar energy system

[KRenn]

[QUOTE=Ian S;42285]

They claim panel shortage at least until the last month or so. If I don't get a satisfactory answer on Monday, I'll talk to Sunpower.

Sun power has always had panel shortages. It happens in cycles. A lot also depends on the installer obviously................. They'll sometimes throw around "panel shortages" as an excuse for not being able to install on time. There's a few companies that can do installs in 3 months or less, most out there are still taking 5-6 months, regardless of what they may claim...............


First thing you should do is contact the manufacturer. You can ascertain if the installer is being honest or fibbing to you. With Sun power there is the real possibility of delays, but nothing that should push an install beyond 4 months. One of my neighbors signed up for a Sun power lease in November and already has it on his home, so the shortage can't be that extreme.

[jinx1832]

Rather than start a new thread, hoping to get some feedback on a couple prepaid lease options.

Cost and performance guarantee is roughly the same:

1) SunPower 6.21kW
19 x E20/327W panels
SB 6000 String Converter

2) SunCap 5.75kW
23 x Silikens 250W panels
23 x M215 Enphase Microinverters

I have no real shade issues, which is going is a better option over a 20 year lease? Do higher efficiency SP panels provide more upside in performance than the microinverters, any other important considerations?

Thanks,

[Naptown]

Rather than start a new thread, hoping to get some feedback on a couple prepaid lease options.

Cost and performance guarantee is roughly the same:

1) SunPower 6.21kW
19 x E20/327W panels
SB 6000 String Converter

2) SunCap 5.75kW
23 x Silikens 250W panels
23 x M215 Enphase Microinverters

I have no real shade issues, which is going is a better option over a 20 year lease? Do higher efficiency SP panels provide more upside in performance than the microinverters, any other important considerations?

Thanks,

SunCap is probably better capitalized than SunPower therefore more likely to be there in the long haul.
Watts are Watts If both the same watts the performance will be similar. Perhaps a bit higher on the SunCap as there are fewer losses due to module mismatch etc.

[jinx1832]

SunCap is probably better capitalized than SunPower therefore more likely to be there in the long haul.
Watts are Watts If both the same watts the performance will be similar. Perhaps a bit higher on the SunCap as there are fewer losses due to module mismatch etc.

I am little confused by the power guarantees, both offer 7200 KwH, but the Sunpower configuration has 500 more Watts and higher efficiency panels. The installer said Suncap doesn't take the microinverter into account to calculate the power guarantee. So I am having a hard time getting apples to apples.

Are Silikens quality panels? They are rarely mentioned on this board.

[Naptown]

I use them they have not been a problem thus far. I have had some problems with Solon in the past but that is not at issue here.
As far as the higher efficiency panels go that simply means that they will use less space on the roof......Period

Take the production guarantee with a grain of salt they are so low as to not be worth considering.

As far as production goes look at this article. It is by Photon Magazine where they compared many manufacturers side by side for production.

[jinx1832]

Thanks for your help Rich! Siliken uses that Photon research on all of their marketing info, i was a little skeptical of the independence of the organization.

So...if you throw the power guarantees out the window and just use watts, Sunpower offers roughly 500 extra watts for the same price lease. Would the microinverter provide a significant benefit to offset this watt differential?

[Naptown]

Thanks for your help Rich! Siliken uses that Photon research on all of their marketing info, i was a little skeptical of the independence of the organization.

So...if you throw the power guarantees out the window and just use watts, Sunpower offers roughly 500 extra watts for the same price lease. Would the microinverter provide a significant benefit to offset this watt differential?

Photon is supposedly independent. I cannot verify this but they are a legitimate organization.
Enphase ( in their marketing materials) claims they get 7-10% more harvest. I have some customers substantiate this claim when compared to PV Watts. Now keep in mind that PVWatts is a 10-20 year average so they may have had a better than average year.
I would go with whatever makes you the most comfortable. Base your decision on the financial strength of the entity you are leasing from. (SunCap is a fortune 500 company and a division of NRG Corp. Sunpower, Well you do the research to see what their health is.

[KRenn]

Photon is supposedly independent. I cannot verify this but they are a legitimate organization.
Enphase ( in their marketing materials) claims they get 7-10% more harvest. I have some customers substantiate this claim when compared to PV Watts. Now keep in mind that PVWatts is a 10-20 year average so they may have had a better than average year.
I would go with whatever makes you the most comfortable. Base your decision on the financial strength of the entity you are leasing from. (SunCap is a fortune 500 company and a division of NRG Corp. Sunpower, Well you do the research to see what their health is.

SunPower was on shaky footing financially, then they were bought out by Total, which is like one of the ten biggest companies on earth. If the pricing is the same, I would choose the SunPower modules 100 out of 100 times.

[Naptown]

SunPower was on shaky footing financially, then they were bought out by Total, which is like one of the ten biggest companies on earth. If the pricing is the same, I would choose the SunPower modules 100 out of 100 times.

I didn't know they were bought out.

[KRenn]

I didn't know they were bought out.

Yep, Total gave them a billion dollar credit line to go out and party.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/SunPowers-Joyous-Solar-Christmas/

http://www.istockanalyst.com/finance/story/5613096/sunpower-spwr-shoots-up-following-deals-with-total-sa

[Solar_ Newbie]

Am I getting "taken to the cleaners" on my pre-paid lease?

Hoping someone can give me some guidance here. I recently signed a SunPower residential lease agreement after getting 3-4 quotes from various companies. Now after reading through some of these threads and finding a comparable SunPower lease quote on line for less, I'm thinking I just got a rotten deal. I didn't think to get comparison quotes among SunPower dealer/installers.

If there are some experts out there that can give their feedback, details are below.

Location Central Valley, CA
Approx. Estimated production 12,400 kWh
7.85 kwh (DC)
24 Sun Power E20/327 panels
1 Sunnyboy 7000 (7kw) inverter
Approx. $17,500 prepaid

Thanks!

[montanaman]

I have the same system that just got installed

Same amount of panels... I am in AZ and after the rebates from APS ( Arizona power) and the Fed.. mine is more like 10k on a 20 year prepay. When did you get your quote? I have heard that they have gone up substantially in the last few months. I locked in my number back in March.

[SoCalsolar]

Looks good to me

That SP quote looks quite good. Not positive what your incentives are in the central valley but a wee bit further south and you would be paying 5-10k more. When was this lease signed? It looks like the older (better) pricing to me. I doubt you would get a better price now but feel free to call around.

[Solar_ Newbie]

May or June quote

Same amount of panels... I am in AZ and after the rebates from APS ( Arizona power) and the Fed.. mine is more like 10k on a 20 year prepay. When did you get your quote? I have heard that they have gone up substantially in the last few months. I locked in my number back in March.

montanaman-
I got the quote back in May or June. Sounds like the APS rebate sure makes solar cheap in AZ compared to other locations- I've seen other postings with AZ prices that were much lower than the quotes I had seen. Not sure how high electric utility prices are in AZ. The deal I mentioned will offset 90-95% of my usage on an monthly average bill of $280.

SoCalSolar-

Thanks- I had started to get worried.

[montanaman]

My average bill is about 175 per month..

In the Phoenix area and it is a second home. The system I had installed ( and will be up and running finally next month) is guaranteed to produce 14,223 kWh for the first year essentially zeroing out my bill. Anything extra gets put on the grid and I get a credit. After the additional 1k rebate from the installer ( Solar Topps) my net cost on the 20 year up-front is $9069.00. I think I did ok. AZ power rebate was about 4500 bucks and that number is getting smaller every day. That is why I jumped in when I did..