Current PV panel prices

zeupater

thenudeone wrote: »

A supplier on ebay is listing a 3.92kW Solar PV System installed, for £12,200 or best offer.
16 x 245w panels, Sharp monocrystaline. The inverter is a SMA Sunnyboy SB3300

A useful tool for negotiating with other suppliers!

Hi

It would be good to see how often they would up the price after surveying the property .... there's plenty of scope for chin-stroking, a little ummming and arrring, followed by a short intake of breath regarding earthing, consumer units, roof construction, tiles, scaffolding, access et al .... I'd simply see this as a 'foot-in-the door price' from the installer, but agree that it is evidence of a system price to be used for negotiation with other installers.

Z

Gizmosmum_2

A friend of a friend has asked for help with research for a pv dissertation. I suggested this forum but he can't post yet as he's still new. If you're feeling generous with your time I'm sure he'd appreciate your help. Here's his message:

Hi All,

I am a final year student studying BSC Building Surveying at Kingston university. For my dissertation topic, I have chosen to investigate about photovoltaic systems to establish today’s demands and the reasons why some homeowners have chosen to install them and why others have not.

I would be extremely grateful if you could spare a few moments to complete my questionnaire via the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/photovoltaic_Systems1

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you once again for your time.

Your Sincerely

Stephen. T
BSC Building Surveying Student

pmpm

daytona600 wrote: »

schott mid range
upsolar very / very cheap chinese
solarworld one of the best in the world and expensive
with very high yields with best module warranty
sma no1 inverter in the world

don,t pay anymore than £11k for schott/upsolar £ 13k solarworld/sma get some more quotes
search online - prices very high
schott/upsolar should be about £2k cheaper than solarworld

THanks for your reply.
I've another quote today
Sharp panels for 4kwp = £12500. that's cheapest i've got now. The guy who came said that they use powerone inverter and according to him SMA inverter only 'kicks in' with 200voltage and powerone inverter 'kicks in' with only 120 voltate giving us extra 2 hours of electricity generation on an average day. Now how much of that you think is true?
How are sharp panels as compared to solarworld as there's a big difference in prices

thenudeone

pmpm wrote: »

I've another quote today
Sharp panels for 4kwp = £12500. [cut]. The guy who came said that they use powerone inverter and according to him SMA inverter only 'kicks in' with 200voltage and powerone inverter 'kicks in' with only 120 voltate giving us extra 2 hours of electricity generation on an average day

Who was that with?
I was told exactly the same today by Sun Spirit but they quoted me £14493 (including a 25 yr warranty on inverter)

pmpm

thenudeone wrote: »

Who was that with?
I was told exactly the same today by Sun Spirit but they quoted me £14493 (including a 25 yr warranty on inverter)

that was with pvsolaruk but that guy wanted me to place an order today to get that price otherwise it would be £13300. He's only giving 10yr guarantee though. I think 25yr guarantee on inverter is quite good as you'll surely need atleast one replacement in 25yr period.

zeupater

pmpm wrote: »

that was with p*******k but that guy wanted me to place an order today to get that price otherwise it would be £13300. He's only giving 10yr guarantee though. I think 25yr guarantee on inverter is quite good as you'll surely need atleast one replacement in 25yr period.

Hi

They're not supposed to pressurise the customer using double glazing type tactics ...... I take it that they work to the REAL code ?? ..... Re: http://www.realassurance.org.uk/scheme/consumer-code#tag5.2

Regarding " .... and according to him SMA inverter only 'kicks in' with 200voltage and powerone inverter 'kicks in' with only 120 voltate giving us extra 2 hours of electricity generation on an average day .... " the SB4000TL spec states "Min. DC voltage / start voltage - 125 V / 150 V", salesmen, don't you just love them !!

Regarding Sharp panels .... if you want a British made panel you've effectively got the choice between Romag & Sharp. Sharp are one of the largest panel manufacturers in the world and have a corporate brand reputation which covers many other consumer products to protect, which could be worth consideration.

HTH
Z

Cardew

All this talk of 25 years guarantee for inverters etc is just hogwash!

Most of these installation firms will have moved out of the solar panel business in a couple of years or so, and onto a new venture. There simply won't be enough work left in the solar PV game.

The 10 year manufacturer's panel Guarantee, provided it is not Chinese from an unknown firm, will probably be honoured, but how is Joe Public going to diagnose the fault, remove the duff panel and fit a replacement? Scaffolding cost £1,000?

PeterZ_2

Cardew wrote: »

All this talk of 25 years guarantee for inverters etc is just hogwash!

Most of these installation firms will have moved out of the solar panel business in a couple of years or so, and onto a new venture. There simply won't be enough work left in the solar PV game.

The 10 year manufacturer's panel Guarantee, provided it is not Chinese from an unknown firm, will probably be honoured, but how is Joe Public going to diagnose the fault, remove the duff panel and fit a replacement? Scaffolding cost £1,000?

Exactly, many of these companies will have started up purely to benefit from the increased demand since the FITs came in. They will make a quick buck over the next fews years and close the company down as the work dries up.

So in 15 years when your inverter has popped and let the magic smoke out of the box, who you gonna call?

thenudeone

PeterZ wrote: »

So in 15 years when your inverter has popped and let the magic smoke out of the box, who you gonna call?

1) the credit card company under a CCA s75 claim, if the company fails to meet its contractual obligations. Are there any time limits??

2) the REAL scheme mentions an insurance-backed guarantee:
http://www.realassurance.org.uk/pdf/small-scale-generation-complaints-process.pdf
but gives no further details of how this would work. Would each supplier have to set one up separately?

keith_r59

Cardew wrote: »

All this talk of 25 years guarantee for inverters etc is just hogwash!

Anyone can extend the warranty of their Sunny Boy inverter to 25 years direct with SMA if they so wish.

http://www.sma.de/en/service/sunny-boy-sunny-mini-central-sunny-tripower-windy-boy/warranties.html

It's not cheap though.