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RE: Anyone do solar power on any kind of scale?...

I put solar in about 12 years ago. Prior to that I worked on the equipment that manufactures panels. At the time I did the installation, panels were about $2.15 per watt, inverters added about a $0.70 a watt. Tax credits, cut that in half. Payback was just under 6 years. Costs now are significantly less than half of that.

These were some of the things I did:

1. Used one Enphase inverter per panel. There are a lot of advantages to this, individual panel monitoring, significant savings in wire, higher production, reliability.

2. Researched panel brands before buying. I selected REC. Later on, there was a test field in Germany, with panels from 50 manufacturers until they lost funding. REC was number 1. One of the reasons I was careful selecting is that I was familiar with what can go wrong when they age.

3. I did it myself, from electrical drawings to installation. I did hire a couple of people to help me with the installation. Regarding the orientation, there is a site that gives you estimated power production based on location and orientation.

At the time REC used silicon that was grown in the US. Enphase inverters were also made in the US.

Reliability has been excellent. I had a very close lightening strike, that damaged quite a few things. The only thing solar it affected, was it took out a couple of the inverters which were replaced under warranty. Output does drop over time, but the drop has been negligible. When the inverters failed due to the lightening strike, all other panels and inverters continued to operate.



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  • RE: Anyone do solar power on any kind of scale?... - fredtr 07/14/2012:02:09 07/14/20 (1)

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