Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Nov 20, 2009 4:05 pm Just been quoted the follwo0ing, does this sound like a decent deal??? 7 x 210 1.5kw Sunpower210 panels with a Sunny boy 2500 (2.5kw) inverter, all fully installed and documented. $13,850.00 ???? We have a large north facing roof and are planning on using this to fuel the house, and probably the spa too. Thanks, Point Cook, Victoria - Being hounded by the fascists!! Re: Solar panel quote 2Nov 20, 2009 4:11 pm Just as a rough indication.. our solar is costing us $3184 after $8000 rebate for a 2.1kw system (12x175w suntech panels and 2500 sunnyboy inverter, from solarhut.com.au). Blog : http://ournewhaven.blogspot.com/ (Modified Newhaven - Homestead Homes) Status : DA - Dec 09. Slabbed - Jan 10. Handover - Aug 10 Re: Solar panel quote 3Nov 20, 2009 5:20 pm Everyones quotes will be different due to your suburb zoning and recs values at the time of quoting. My 2kw system is quoted at $4791 after selling my recs, that is with solar gen, I cant wait for it to be installed either Re: Solar panel quote 5Dec 06, 2009 12:27 am Yes, that is a pretty good deal. I would do it. In my opinion you cannot compare this deal to the very cheap deals, you are getting a very high quality panel, from a company whom has real quality control systems. SunPower / Solon / Sharp @ < $8.75/pW fully installed is a great deal. You will get the cheap modules for about $6/pW, but buyer beware. I have heard there is a major fallout looming in the industry due to the flood of very low quality panels into the market. You never buy a car without understanding the brand, why is solar any different? Re: Solar panel quote 7Jan 19, 2010 7:17 am My installer has just rang me to say he has a great deal on some ECOKES panels, he can instal 18 ECOKES 170 panels for the same money as the sunpower ones above. The Ecokes are a 3kw system, compared to the Sunpower being a 1.5kw (Although i have no idea what that means, if someone wants to explain this to me i'd appreciate it), but the efficiency is a little less 9but I'm told the increased kw makes up for this??) Any help on which is the better deal would be greatly appreciated. Point Cook, Victoria - Being hounded by the fascists!! Re: Solar panel quote 8Jan 20, 2010 3:54 pm whirlwind Wow, the solar panel prices in the US seem to be much higher than yours. We seem to be far behind in all the environmentally sound things... You seem to be a man in the know, can you explain in leymans terms the differences between the 2 panels I've mentioned in this thread? Thanks. Point Cook, Victoria - Being hounded by the fascists!! Re: Solar panel quote 9Jan 30, 2010 10:37 pm Hi VZBUX, I would urge caution on super low prices solar modules / inverters. You really need to be confirtable that the stuff you buy is going to last at least 10 yrs. I personally would not touch anything that was outside of a well known brand name (i.e. SunPower, Solon, Sharp, Conergy, anything Euro on the panels, and SMA / Fronius / Kaco on the inverters). No one has any experience with the other brands, and I can tell you right now that the margins in this stuff are so little (usually <15% from the retailer to you), that when someone can offer something at close to half price, it means something about the system is not designed / tested to last the 25 yrs they are supposed to. Look for 10 yr warranties (product, not power output), on both the inverter and the panels. Most of the "other" stuff is 5 yrs. Also, if the company hasnt been around for at least 5 years, dont do it........this stuff will end up being a liability. I have seen a lot of 1.5kW systems advertised for <$5,000, but they dont meet any of the criteria above. Shop smart! Solar is risky stuff. My prediction is a massive backlash in the next 2 years on the cheap stuff (i.e. the company that sold it is bust, the company that made it doesnt exist anymore and we are left with a headache). Re: Solar panel quote 10Jan 30, 2010 11:18 pm Was talking to a sparkie today who was installing some ceiling fans for us. he's a qualified solar power panel installer and doing the next level of the license? designer? or something I can't remember what it was called. anyway he and his electrican business partner are the reps for the company they install for for this state. We are asking him about various costs etc today,. for the larger system with the bigger inverter 2. something system and he said atm we would be looking at around 14k after rebate. These have a 25 year guarantee?/warranty? though. Sorry I'm a bit fuzzy on details I only caught half the conversation but I also remember him saying that it would take about 7 years to break even on costs. He did say that in the past 6 yrs since he started the panel technology has changed heaps and they are now massively more efficient. Re: Solar panel quote 11Feb 05, 2010 2:48 pm ecosmart Hi VZBUX, I would urge caution on super low prices solar modules / inverters. You really need to be confirtable that the stuff you buy is going to last at least 10 yrs. I personally would not touch anything that was outside of a well known brand name (i.e. SunPower, Solon, Sharp, Conergy, anything Euro on the panels, and SMA / Fronius / Kaco on the inverters). No one has any experience with the other brands, and I can tell you right now that the margins in this stuff are so little (usually <15% from the retailer to you), that when someone can offer something at close to half price, it means something about the system is not designed / tested to last the 25 yrs they are supposed to. Look for 10 yr warranties (product, not power output), on both the inverter and the panels. Most of the "other" stuff is 5 yrs. Also, if the company hasnt been around for at least 5 years, dont do it........this stuff will end up being a liability. I have seen a lot of 1.5kW systems advertised for <$5,000, but they dont meet any of the criteria above. Shop smart! Solar is risky stuff. My prediction is a massive backlash in the next 2 years on the cheap stuff (i.e. the company that sold it is bust, the company that made it doesnt exist anymore and we are left with a headache). Thanks for this, I decided to go for the sunpower system as it does have the history and build quality. The company has changed it to 5 x 300kw panels instead of the 7 x 210kw panles which is great, and upgraded my inverter to a Fronuis IG 30 3.3kw. All for the same price. Excellent. Its a locked in deal. Point Cook, Victoria - Being hounded by the fascists!! Re: Solar panel quote 12Feb 14, 2010 8:59 pm vzbux ecosmart Thanks for this, I decided to go for the sunpower system as it does have the history and build quality. The company has changed it to 5 x 300kw panels instead of the 7 x 210kw panles which is great, and upgraded my inverter to a Fronuis IG 30 3.3kw. All for the same price. Excellent. Its a locked in deal. The comments re: Sunpower being a reputable brand are true. They are the most efficient, highest-cost panel, and are under-rated, and you certainly get what you pay for. I think they are also smaller size for the same power output than cheaper panels. But most people probably can't justify the cost (I can't either) for paying about 4X the price per watt output. I'd rather spend half the price I would have with SunPower panels, on cheaper panels and have more than double the output of the SunPowers. Obviously if you're extremely limited on roofspace, then the SunPowers are the only way to go. I used http://www.solarchoice.com.au (brokers) recently and was sent 6 quotes. I was shocked at the price differences between the highest and lowest quotes. They itemised the quote (as far as listing panel brand/size, and inverter brand/model/size) so it was easy to see which companies had significantly marked-up their prices... Then there's the "extras" for tiled roof, two storey, which state you lived in etc, which added over $1000 to the quote for one company! I'd be interested to know how the output of your system compares to the "cheaper" systems which use chinese-made panels. Mind you, the chinese-made panels I've seen all come with 25yr output warranty and 5 or 10yr manufacturer's (parts) warranty. I might be stirring the pot, but I've been told by an installer/importer that Sunpower panels are in fact made in China - he recently returned from the China factory where they were manufactured! Re: Solar panel quote 13Mar 03, 2010 11:35 am Have recently locked in our Solar Panels - we went with the Solarshop and Kaneka Hybrid panels out of Japan. Cost to us is $6000 - thats after rebates and a pretty good show special (QLD Home show is on) - I did a bit of searching around on them and did not find any bad comments about them. Denise Re: Solar panel quote 14Mar 03, 2010 4:56 pm perksyaus Have recently locked in our Solar Panels - we went with the Solarshop and Kaneka Hybrid panels out of Japan. Cost to us is $6000 - thats after rebates and a pretty good show special (QLD Home show is on) - I did a bit of searching around on them and did not find any bad comments about them. Denise Congratulations on your purchase, what sized system did you get? Regards, Darren. hey there! π so, itβs kinda common for standard drawer depths to be around 500mm since most cabinets use this size to fit the usual runners… 3 20890 I was being kind to the builder. With the amount charged for the upgrade the builder is probably charging closer to 100% margin. There are a few variables as I… 5 14303 I had 28m2 of engineered pavers laid six months back and it was difficult to find someone not taking the pi$$. Internet suggested it should be $85-100/m2 to lay them.… 3 12358 |