215 watt panels for only 78 cents per watt!

[AndyH]

Sun Electronics now has some super low prices:

280W for $0.48 per watt minimum 22 panels. The catch is that they are "unlisted". What does that mean for the safety of using the product, making it a grid tie system and for the federal tax credit?

They also have containers at lower prices but that will require a group buy. Anybody interested?

I have some of their 'Sun' brand unlisted panels. These aren't rejects or seconds, they're 'private label' panels manufactured for Sun Electronics. In my case, by Evergreen before they went bankrupt. The unlisted panels are normally used for off-grid systems - it's my understanding that most grid-tie agreements or local codes require UL or other certs to be legal.

I've seen a couple of examples of 'unlisted' panels at Sun that were rejects of sorts. The most recent were/are some ~100W glass-on-glass thin film panels that were supposed to be 110W but tested at 100 or 105. These weren't able to carry the blanket US listing as the rest of the production batches because they didn't meet the performance spec. They were fully functional in all other respects.

One would have to check the IRS paperwork for tax credit info. Though it's my impression that the IRS doesn't care if the panels are UL listed or not as long as they're moving electrons, it's been a number of years since I last read the info so don't take my word for it.

Good hunting!

Andy