Sunpower

[solarsavvy]

I have a customer who wants to proceed with a solar installation wiyh us after recieving several reccommendations.
Only problem is they have seen Sunpower all black panels on line and want a quote using this panel.
Anyone know how i get some?

 

[telectrix]

have a look at this thread


http://www.electriciansforums.net/p...um/52738-sunpower-signature-black-panels.html

 

[Gavin A]

could try the panasonic all black HIT panels?

 

[solarsavvy]

Very good product and we have installed many but not as good by all accounts as Sunpower!
Seems to be very difficult to get any at least in a reasonable time scale.

 

[SolarCity]

By all accounts? In what way are Sunpower any better than Panasonic?

 

[solarsavvy]

By all accounts? In what way are Sunpower any better than Panasonic?

Sunpower all black panels have a capacity of 337 watts. All the contacts between cells are made off on the rear of the panel leaving the front grid free.

Checkout what our customer sent us from his research.

Extremely high efficiency performance of 20.4%!
√ 25 year warranties available!
√ 87% output guarantee for 25 years!
√ Produces higher than average income than a standard panel
√ Less space needed on your roof!
√ 1 SunPower panel provides 327w unlike traditional 250w panels

my guess would be that they will be expensive compared to an equivalent 4k system.
I need an equivalent if i cant get Sunpowers??

 

[SpitfireW'sale]

They are actually cheaper than Panasonic at the moment, but from what I have heard from installers they have serious availability issues at present.

 

[SolarRoofSols]

I have also had a conversation from a prospective client about Sunpower, never heard about them until a few weeks ago, now they keep cropping up!

Shame they can't sort out a better distribution route!

 

[Ian-LS]

never heard of the most efficient panels on the planet? which rock have you been living under for the last few years?

 

[Earthstore]

One other point, as all the contacts are a printed circuit on the back of each cell they are the only true all black panel, I have to say they do look fantastic, and perform excellently, also I believe their low light efficiency should be better than any other panel on the market, well there are no lines of copper/solder on the front of the cell.

All that said, customers seem to get hung up about panel efficiency, all that this means is how efficient it is for a given area, so if you have plenty of space to install a larger array of "standard" panels the ROI would probably work out better.

In an ideal world we would all drive a Rolls Royce if we wanted the best, but many of us drive a Ford or VW, well they still get us from point A to B, maybe the journey is not quite as good, but we still get there..

 

[solarsavvy]

One other point, as all the contacts are a printed circuit on the back of each cell they are the only true all black panel, I have to say they do look fantastic, and perform excellently, also I believe their low light efficiency should be better than any other panel on the market, well there are no lines of copper/solder on the front of the cell.

All that said, customers seem to get hung up about panel efficiency, all that this means is how efficient it is for a given area, so if you have plenty of space to install a larger array of "standard" panels the ROI would probably work out better.

In an ideal world we would all drive a Rolls Royce if we wanted the best, but many of us drive a Ford or VW, well they still get us from point A to B, maybe the journey is not quite as good, but we still get there..

Very philosophical but what panels do I offer if I cant get Sunpower?

 

[SolarCity]

I remember a pub in our town centre used to stop people getting in after about 7pm and made them queue for no apparent reason. Human nature being what it is, more and more people would join this queue to get into a pub that was half empty. There was nothing special about the pub - in fact it was a bit of a dive - but it made it seem more elite and by 9pm it would be heaving.

 

[Earthstore]

Very philosophical but what panels do I offer if I cant get Sunpower?

Sorry, was supposed to be a little informative.
The next best thing would be Panasonic (Sanyo), not sure about price or availability though, my advice would be to cost the job up, and then price it up using a decent alternative panel and explain that efficiency is roof space that is required.
IE panasonics would need 20sq meters and the alternative needs 22sq meters to produce the same output.

I hope this helps.