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Wow, time flies. According to Sunpower, my 6.9 kW system has produced 48,577 kWh in the intervening time. Less than 2 years to go before I can exercise my early buyout option. Woo hoo!
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Nice. I remember when you were going to pull the switch on that as I was also contemplating the amazing Sunpower early buyout prepaid lease. That years deal was so good even the 50% rate reduction in panels about a year ago couldn't touch that price. -
Happy anniversary. Do you plan on any festivities ? Cake ? Ice cream ? At least a card, huh ?
Nicely done. What would you do different if given the chance ?Comment
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Wow, if your numbers are right - 48,577kWh over four years on a 6.9kW system is a yield of 1760 effective hours per year. About the highest I've ever heard of! How does this compare with the PVwatts projections or the SunPower projections?BSEE, R11, NABCEP, Chevy BoltEV, >3000kW installedComment
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Maybe celebrate with an extra Ballast Point "Big Eye" IPA? LOL! Best prior the ice cream I suppose or I could just make a float
As for what I would do differently, about the only thing I can come up with is to have sought out and gone with a different SunPower dealer. I would have had my system up and running months earlier with less worry. Little did I know that the dealer, Perfect Power, was struggling to stay afloat (they actually went out of business only a few months after my system startup) but the delays caused me a lot of worry. In hindsight, I realized I actually dodged a bullet. A number of their customers who were buying systems lost their deposits. That was one advantage of the prepaid Sunpower lease: nothing to pay until after the system was up and running on the grid. I sure don't regret going with Sunpower as no one else could touch their price at that time. And to be honest, the installer guy that worked with me to do the deal was helpful and knowledgeable and it was he who alerted me to the Sunpower deal as an alternative to their in-house arrangement. He even came up with what turned out to be good sizing of the system using APS' T.O.U. plan: system produces just enough so I virtually never pay for any peak electricity. Plus, panels were located to minimize visibility to the HOA. An HVAC guy (who used to work in the solar industry) was just recently up on my roof and commented that my solar looked like a properly done installation.
Obviously, today things are different. I wouldn't recommend a monthly lease for anyone and only a prepaid under certain circumstances. If somebody is looking at a monthly lease because they really want to have solar but can't buy and are in APS territory, I'd suggest they look into the APS deal where the utility puts solar on your roof, is fully responsible for it and just gives you a $30 credit on your monthly bill. Essentially you rent them roof space. If I lived in SRP territory today, I'd not even consider solar at all. That utility has pretty much killed it I think.Comment
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Ian: Thank you. I'll leave lease comments for some other time.
Maybe celebrate with an extra Ballast Point "Big Eye" IPA? LOL! Best prior the ice cream I suppose or I could just make a float
As for what I would do differently, about the only thing I can come up with is to have sought out and gone with a different SunPower dealer. I would have had my system up and running months earlier with less worry. Little did I know that the dealer, Perfect Power, was struggling to stay afloat (they actually went out of business only a few months after my system startup) but the delays caused me a lot of worry. In hindsight, I realized I actually dodged a bullet. A number of their customers who were buying systems lost their deposits. That was one advantage of the prepaid Sunpower lease: nothing to pay until after the system was up and running on the grid. I sure don't regret going with Sunpower as no one else could touch their price at that time. And to be honest, the installer guy that worked with me to do the deal was helpful and knowledgeable and it was he who alerted me to the Sunpower deal as an alternative to their in-house arrangement. He even came up with what turned out to be good sizing of the system using APS' T.O.U. plan: system produces just enough so I virtually never pay for any peak electricity. Plus, panels were located to minimize visibility to the HOA. An HVAC guy (who used to work in the solar industry) was just recently up on my roof and commented that my solar looked like a properly done installation.
Obviously, today things are different. I wouldn't recommend a monthly lease for anyone and only a prepaid under certain circumstances. If somebody is looking at a monthly lease because they really want to have solar but can't buy and are in APS territory, I'd suggest they look into the APS deal where the utility puts solar on your roof, is fully responsible for it and just gives you a $30 credit on your monthly bill. Essentially you rent them roof space. If I lived in SRP territory today, I'd not even consider solar at all. That utility has pretty much killed it I think.
Regards,Comment
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First year production was 12,397 kWh. Sunpower guarantee was 11,768 - 13,006 kWh for the first year so it was pretty much in the mid range. PV Watts gives 11,947 kWh (11.349 - 12,214 kWh) with default 14% loss factor and premium panel selected. Annual production in kWh is as follows:
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 12397 12239 11952 11982 Comment
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Ian: Any #'s on annual GHI for the periods ?Comment
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Global Horizontal Irradiance. Some Weather Underground sites report it as do some other sources.
Knowing what that figure is, summed over a year or more, will allow a better comparison of a PVWatts estimated long term average output to an array's actual output, basically by ratioing the actual GHI to the TMY GHI chosen for the PVWatts analysis. Not perfect because the rest of the weather - like temp. & wind - will be different, but it's a start.
Thought you might know of such a data source near you.Comment
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I just got the early buyout offer and it looks attractive. Can anyone who's done it tell me if they continue to provide the app and monitoring service for free?Comment
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Assuming we're talking Sunpower, yes, a year after my buyout, I still have access to the software including the much more useful partner portal where you can download lots of interesting data even though it's a string inverter. Everything is as it was before and there was no tax form of any kind issued by Sunpower. Alas, this is my last week living in this house as our move to Sedona takes place a week from tomorrow. I'll miss the solar but not the heat - already near 100F today. Ugh.Comment
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Thanks Ian! Good luck with the move!Comment
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