Hi, I’ve recently decided to jump on the solar bandwagon after suffering through several years of high energy costs. Goal is to reduce my energy costs, and lay the foundation to further move away from natural gas based heating by replacing my central AC with a heat-pump next year.
As reference, the last 12 months of my electricity use has been:
| Month Year | Kwh |
|---|---|
| March 2023 | 764 |
| April 2023 | 665 |
| May 2023 | 694 |
| June 2023 | 912 |
| July 2023 | 1,066 |
| August 2023 | 1,002 |
| September 2023 | 760 |
| October 2023 | 638 |
| November 2023 | 866 |
| December 2023 | 760 |
| January 2024 | 963 |
| February 2024 | 807 |
With this said, I recently talked with 3 solar vendors operating here in New York City, and obtained the following quotes. The pricing feels very high compared to some of the other posts, so I’d appreciate any feedback and recommendations:
| Vendor | Venture Solar | SunPower - IntelliSun | Sunation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar Panel | Hanwha Q.TRON 425 W | SunPower M440 Maxeon Gen 6 (SPR-M440-H-AC) | S-Energy SL65-54BGJ/BHJ-400V |
| Inverter | Enphase IQ8H | Enphase IQ7HS | Enphase IQ8PLUS-72-2-US |
| Solar panel capacity (W) | 425 | 440 | 400 |
| Number of panels | 25 | 21 | 25 |
| Total capacity (W) | 10625 | 9240 | 10000 |
| Solar panel efficiency | 22.50% | 22.80% | ? |
| Solar equipment and installation Up-front pricing | $39,015.00 | $41,325.00 | $37,000.00 |
