215 watt panels for only 78 cents per watt!

[AndyH]

Woo Hoo - my panels are here, inspected, and in the garage. Perfect condition, perfect paperwork. I cannot wait to see these puppies pushing electrons. :lol:

 

[GeekEV]

Woo Hoo - my panels are here, inspected, and in the garage. Perfect condition, perfect paperwork. I cannot wait to see these puppies pushing electrons. :lol:

Woo hoo! I feel your excitement. My installer is ready to get started this week once the city approves the permits.

 

[mywaracfirfoyff]

My panels have also arrived! They look great!

Does anybody know of a good place to get a deal on the Enphase micro-inverters and cables?

Thanks!

 

[AndyH]

My panels have also arrived! They look great!

Does anybody know of a good place to get a deal on the Enphase micro-inverters and cables?

Thanks!

Welcome to the Evergreen Family! :lol:

Phone the folks at Sunelec for a quote before shopping around.

 

[GeekEV]

Does anybody know of a good place to get a deal on the Enphase micro-inverters and cables?

I went with GoGreenSolar. $149.95 for the Enphase M215 micro-inverters - that's the best price I could find by a long shot... They were very helpful. The even called me up after the order and pointed out that I had missed ordering some key accessories.

If you got the same panels I did (the Evergreen ES-E-215-FC), here's what you need (not including mounting rails for the panels, my installer will provide those):

Enphase Envoy - Energy Management Unit (EMU)
Enphase Energy M215-60-2LL-S22 Inverter, MC4
Enphase ET-INSTL, M215 Install Kit
Enphase ET17-240-40 240VAC M215 Trunk Cable for Landscape Install (or Portrait Install) **

Phone the folks at Sunelec for a quote before shopping around.

At the time I placed my order, GoGreenSolar was about $80 cheaper than Sun Electronics. Though they now claim to have some bulk deals on the inverters, so it doesn't hurt to ask them.


** They also have bulk packs of the trunk cables depending on how many you need. See the full list of Enphase products.

 

[N952JL]

I did my install July 2010 with 48 Everygreen 210s. I designed four single axis trackers each with 12 pannels. Tied 24 together to feed one of two Sonny Boy 6KW inverter. (the other 24 go to the second Sonny Boy). It would be interesting to see how much more my output would be is I had micro inverters, one per pannel so when shading starts, it doesn't bring down the entire 24 pannels.

 

[AndyH]

I did my install July 2010 with 48 Everygreen 210s. I designed four single axis trackers each with 12 pannels. Tied 24 together to feed one of two Sonny Boy 6KW inverter. (the other 24 go to the second Sonny Boy). It would be interesting to see how much more my output would be is I had micro inverters, one per pannel so when shading starts, it doesn't bring down the entire 24 pannels.

You put them on trackers and have shading issues? :shock:

A larger inverter per tracker would probably be less expensive than microinverters. Tree trimming should be less expensive still...

 

[hill]

Woo Hoo - my panels are here, inspected, and in the garage. Perfect condition, perfect paperwork. I cannot wait to see these puppies pushing electrons. :lol:

Woo hoo! I feel your excitement. My installer is ready to get started this week once the city approves the permits.

Congrat's to both of ya ! !

.

 

[GeekEV]

FWIW, my system went online yesterday. It generated 23kWh today.

 

[GeekEV]

FWIW, my system went online yesterday. It generated 23kWh today.

For those who are interested, you can see the system status and production graphs, etc., through my enphase microinverters here: https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/QDVT52503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[AndyH]

FWIW, my system went online yesterday. It generated 23kWh today.

For those who are interested, you can see the system status and production graphs, etc., through my enphase microinverters here: https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/QDVT52503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Damn - those puppies don't work at night, do they? :lol:

Nice job - congrats!

 

[GeekEV]

I know, right? Doesn't the moon reflect enough light?

 

[toasty]

did anyone order any?


does shipping kill the deal?

 

[Deleted member 3645]

Not to be snarky, but are these panels Chinese-made? To be more patriotic and environmentally conscious, consider spending the extra money to purchase panels from companies who treat their workers & the environment right, and don't steal hard-earned intellectual-property technology that is contained in the panels.

My 2 cents.

- Stefan

 

[GeekEV]

did anyone order any?
does shipping kill the deal?

Yes, many of us did. Shipping in my case was about $650 for 32 panels.

Not to be snarky, but are these panels Chinese-made? To be more patriotic and environmentally conscious, consider spending the extra money to purchase panels from companies who treat their workers & the environment right, and don't steal hard-earned intellectual-property technology that is contained in the panels.

That distributor sells many kinds of panels. The original deal this thread was talking about were Evergreen panels, which are not Chinese.

 

[AndyH]

I'd certainly like to buy American, but we've got to do this quickly - American PV manufacturers are dropping like flies. Those that remain have filed for import tariffs on Chinese panels because they cannot compete on price. There's a story in the current HomePower magazine (Issue 148, Apr-May 2012):
http://homepower.com/article/?file=HP148_pg14_NewsandNotes_1

More here also:
Pro Tariff: http://www.seia.org/
Anti-Tariff: http://coalition4affordablesolar.org/

Seems it's tariffs in round one: http://www.seia.org/galleries/pdf/Solar_Cells_CVD_Prelim_FR_Notice.pdf

My order was for ten (10) 220W A grade Evergreen panels. They were $171.60 each, and shipped from Miami to San Antonio on a pallet via truck freight for $300. That's 91.6 cents per watt delivered.

In the past I've purchased B grade panels made by Evergreen, and have four B grade Sun (Sunelec private label) panels. The Sun panels were made on the Evergreen line with Evergreen hardware and cells. Here's a photo from one of the B grade Sun panels:

There are two chips on this 36-cell panel. Tedlar, glass, frame, and wiring box are all perfect.

Not to be snarky, but are these panels Chinese-made?

chex, Evergreen is (well, was) a US company based in Massachusetts. The panels we bought from Sunelec were produced by Evergreen in shipped from Europe and were auctioned as part of the bankruptcy. It appears that the string ribbon tech was bought by a Chinese company:
http://evergreensolar.com/en/index.html

Evergreen Solar (China) was founded on May 15th, 2009...Evergreen Solar (China) Co. Ltd. is the successor to the assets, the trademarks, the patents and the name of Evergreen Solar, Inc.

edit ... chex, looks like you were right. Here's a shot of the label from one of my European Auction panels (Made in China) and a look at the front.




Sorry for the bad info above.

 

[AndyH]

An update on prices and tariffs... While I expect we'll have more inexpensive panels from places like Sunelec (because some of their stock comes from liquidation sales ), if ratified, these tariffs will likely slow the pace of PV for a time in the US. 31% is quite a kick in the head.

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2012/05/22/solar-panels-from-china

The U.S. has slapped big tariffs on Chinese solar panels. So, what do we need more? To go green or buy American?

Keith Bradsher, Hong Kong bureau chief for the The New York Times.
Clyde Prestowitz, founder and president of the Economic Strategy Institute. He blogs at Foreign Policy.
Ned Harvey, chief operating officer and vice president of finance at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld industries America.

 

[GeekEV]

Not to be snarky, but are these panels Chinese-made?

The original deal this thread was talking about were Evergreen panels, which are not Chinese.

It appears that the string ribbon tech was bought by a Chinese company:

Evergreen Solar (China) was founded on May 15th, 2009...Evergreen Solar (China) Co. Ltd. is the successor to the assets, the trademarks, the patents and the name of Evergreen Solar, Inc.

... chex, looks like you were right. Here's a shot of the label from one of my European Auction panels (Made in China) and a look at the front.

I certainly didn't realize that at time of purchase, but at that price I really don't care either. If one were to boycot things made in China, you'd miss out on a lot of good things (my favorite Apple products, for instance)... It's a noble ideal, but not very practical unless you're willing to "do without".

 

[AndyH]

5MW of A grade PV for 55 cents a Watt?!

http://www.sunelec.com/blog/renewab...-of-grade-a-available-from-55-cents-per-watt/

 

[GeekEV]

5MW of A grade PV for 55 cents a Watt?!

http://www.sunelec.com/blog/renewab...-of-grade-a-available-from-55-cents-per-watt/

WOW!!! :shock:

I wish I had more roof space...