i’ve got a few 6.6kW solar quotes for my place in South east melbourne and i’d like some feedback as to which one i should go for and whether the highest cost option using REC panels is worth it.
all the inverter options are 5kW with full standard 10 year warranty (that was one of my criteria).
and all include consumption monitoring (another criteria i wanted)
i’m also particularly interested in whether they have good reliable apps for monitoring usage and consumption/export.
if there’s any specific model of panel i should upgrade to within a certain brand for not much more cost, i’d be interested in that info too.
below are the quotes i’ve received, this is after the federal rebate only. prices below exclude additional rebates i will get (i.e. vic rebate and vic loan)
Jinko panels + Goodwe Inverter/Consumption Monitor - $4634
18 x 370W Jinko Cheetah Plus HC - JKM370M-66H
GoodWe GW5KD-NS + Goodwe GM1000 Smart Meter
JA Solar panels + Delta Inverter/Consumption Monitor (Delta H5A_222) - $4792
18 × 370W JA Solar MBB Half-Cell Module - JAM60S20-370/MR/1000V
Jinko panels + ABB or a Delta Inverter/Consumption Monitor - $4800
still waiting to find out the model of Jinko panels for this option.
ABB UNO-DM-5.0-TL-PLUS-Q + ABB FMR-Meter-1P-v2 smart meter or Delta H5A_222
REC Panels + ABB or a Delta Inverter/Consumption Monitor - $5800
20 x REC Twinpeak 2 Mono Series
ABB UNO-DM-5.0-TL-PLUS-Q + ABB FMR-Meter-1P-v2 smart meter or Delta H5A_222
The pricing looks about right based on the gear. REC should be most expensive, and ABB (now Fimer) also has a more premium price.
Should you go with the more expensive option? That’s the tough question, it’s really a personal choice. We rate REC very highly. I’d personally probably choose the last combo, $1000 is a small difference to pay for something that’s going to be on your roof for maybe (hopefully) 20+ years.
I’m sure REC are good panels but not to the extent that I would pay $1k more than JA. If you are prepared to spend that extra money, I would use in on premium inverter like SMA, Fronius or my favourite Solar Edge, because they are optimised. Also 12 year warranty and cheaper replacements as the optimisers which are guaranteed for 25 years, do part of the work of the inverter. You get individual panel monitoring and unlike string inverters where underperformance of a single panel is reflected in each panel in a string, each panel performs on its own merits. Also negligible fire risk.