Is this a good deal? It looks pretty good to me . . .

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craigmartell

Active member
Joined
Jun 4, 2012
Messages
25
Location
Central Coast of California
I just met with Mark Davis from Mother Nature Solar (http://www.mothernaturesolar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). He seems like a really good guy and we decided on a 5.52 kW system at $3.79/watt. Total price installed $20920.80. After the California Solar Initiative and the Federal tax rebate, I'm looking at about $13.8K.

This seems like a really good deal to me. Agreed?

Craig
 
Sounds like a pretty big system. Are you powering your house too? Or do you just drive a heck of a lot more than me?
 
That does seem like a good deal. The quotes I've gotten (I'm in Mountain View CA) are much higher than that. They are not passing the lower panel prices on to consumers, at least not in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, it looks like Mother Nature Solar doesn't install in the south bay or peninsula.
 
leafedbehind said:
That does seem like a good deal. The quotes I've gotten (I'm in Mountain View CA) are much higher than that. They are not passing the lower panel prices on to consumers, at least not in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, it looks like Mother Nature Solar doesn't install in the south bay or peninsula.

You might want to Mark a call to see. I bet he would install in Mountain View. I live way down in San Juan Bautista (south of Gilroy), and he drove down personally on Saturday. He is starting the install this week.
 
LindaK said:
Sounds like a pretty big system. Are you powering your house too? Or do you just drive a heck of a lot more than me?

I don't think there is anyone that has a solar PV system which is just used to charge an EV unless they are charging off the grid. AFAIC if you can get your utility to buy pack your excess electricity you should get the biggest system you can afford/fit on your roof efficiently.

Craig, I've corresponded with Mark a few times and I really like his attitude. His pricing is excellent so I suspect he'll keep himself pretty busy. How did your install go?
 
No that is before a $7000 rebate from the state of Hawaii. Because it is not my primary residence I do not qualify for the federal tax credit
 
downeykp said:
No that is before a $7000 rebate from the state of Hawaii. Because it is not my primary residence I do not qualify for the federal tax credit

How is that so cheap then? That's $2.5 a watt which is probably less than most people pay for just the materials :)
 
QueenBee said:
LindaK said:
Sounds like a pretty big system. Are you powering your house too? Or do you just drive a heck of a lot more than me?
Craig, I've corresponded with Mark a few times and I really like his attitude. His pricing is excellent so I suspect he'll keep himself pretty busy. How did your install go?

It's just about done. It took more time than I thought to get HOA approval and the county permit. In both cases Mark's designs were approved with no problem, but each process took time. They started the install this week and should be done by the middle or end of next week. So far it seems excellent. The materials are in my garage and they are definitely the brands he quoted (Canadian Solar and Enphase microinverters). The brackets are already on the roof, and the panels go up Mon or Tuesday.

I will let you know, but it looks excellent.

Craig
 
ALL:,

I just wanted to follow up on my installation by Mother Nature Solar. Mark and his team did a kick a$$ job. Everything went smoothly, and they even stayed in local motels (they live pretty far away) just to maximize the time on the job. I couldn't be happier with the bid or the job done.

I am now producing up to 37kWh per day! Last month we used 1400 kWh (we have both a Leaf and a Volt). Next month, about 1000 kWh of that should be taken care of by solar.

Before PG&E rebate and tax credit, I paid $3.79/W. After the rebate and tax credit it will be about $2.50/W.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Craig
 
craigmartell said:
ALL:,

I just wanted to follow up on my installation by Mother Nature Solar. Mark and his team did a kick a$$ job. Everything went smoothly, and they even stayed in local motels (they live pretty far away) just to maximize the time on the job. I couldn't be happier with the bid or the job done.

I am now producing up to 37kWh per day! Last month we used 1400 kWh (we have both a Leaf and a Volt). Next month, about 1000 kWh of that should be taken care of by solar.

Before PG&E rebate and tax credit, I paid $3.79/W. After the rebate and tax credit it will be about $2.50/W.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Craig

I am doing an expansion of my existing system. Adding 12 cheap chinese made 240W Talesun panels, with M190 micro-inverters.
I am getting the major parts myself, contractor is just getting racking and installing.

12 x Talesun TP660M 240W $2,215.80

Install, labor , racking other parts. $3,622.33
M190 $99.00 12 $1,286.01
M190 cables $80.00 1 $86.60


Code corrections on existing system $810.99

gross cost before incentives $8,021.73
gross cost per watt STC $3.09
gross cost per watt DC $2.79

California rebate per watt PTC $0.20 $518.88
project cost after CA rebate $7,502.85
Federal tax credit 30.00% $2,250.86

net cost for system expansion $5,252.00
net cost per watt STC $2.02
net cost per watt DC $1.82

IMO, hard to beat in California for a 2.88 kW DC system.
The CSI rebate is very small at this point, it's almost not worth it at this point to go through all the painful paperwork.

My expansion should be complete by tomorrow or monday.
 
Craig,

I have one request and one suggestion --

1. I live in Connecticut so I cannot get the company you hired to install my system. Please could you post as much details about your installation as possible and the rebates you got so I can determine how much it would cost me in Connecticut to set up.

2. This looks like an arbitrage opportunity to me. Your system cost

$13.8K to install
You are generating 1000 kwh per month. @10cents per kwh you are making $100 per month or $1200 per year.

If you were to take a home equity loan at 4% for 30 years, your payment is $65 per month, you pocket $35 per month or $420 per year.

Although in this case one can pay out of pocket for the system, why not scale it by a factor of 10 or even a 100??

Saleem
 
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