LG 315s @ $3.45/W

[bmarler]

Is this a good price? Any feedback on the LG 315s performance and reliability? Thanks

[bigdogdan2]

Is this a good price? Any feedback on the LG 315s performance and reliability? Thanks

LG seems to be a good middle ground for price / efficiency / longevity.
They are even having a contest giving away $10K right now if any manufacturer or installer can beat their panel watt for watt.

https://www.lgenergy.com.au/lg-solar-profile/lg-energy-news/our-10-000-challenge

My installer estimates actually showed LG providing more savings for the lifetime of the panel compared to the more expensive SunPower when taking into account the price of the panel too. But they still sell 3x more SP compared to LG cause people seem to want the better warranty.

[dust999]

I'm also looking at LG panels. They rate in the top panels with the Principal Solar Institute. Sunpower take the top spots, but LG panels rate higher than the others like SolarWorld, Canadian Solar etc.

[sensij]

I have frequently referred to the PSI ratings, and think they are useful. However, i would take differences of a few points with a grain of salt, especially with the black box nature of their score calculation. Above a certain percentile. .. 85 or so, maybe, i doubt there is going to be any meaningful difference.

[albert436]

Is that installed with the entire system, and if so can you give us all the details ?

[Carl_NH]

Is this a good price? Any feedback on the LG 315s performance and reliability? Thanks

That's an excellent price - what are your system components and assume this is before any credits?

The LG panels perform very well and they are IMO an excellent choice - not too $$ like Sunpower, but deliver very good performance.

[albert436]

Just found your previous thread, maybe ask this question over there then people will have a better sense of what's going on.

Just a suggestion.

[bmarler]

Here are the system specs

23 panels, LG NeON2 315s, 7.245k, SolarEdge Inverter 6000 w/ Optimizers, $3.45/w before rebates

[forrest1]

Sounds good to me. We just put in 24 LG305 panels six weeks ago, with an SE7600 inverter and power optimizers, for about $3.50 a watt. It's a great system; no worries with the LG panels.

$3.45 would be a very good price here in the San Diego area.

Is the SE6000 big enough? It's maximum output is 6000 watts AC: if you max out the 315 watt panels, the 7245 DC watt input is within margins, but even with losses, I think you'd exceed 6000 AC watts out, no? Of course, you'd need a very clear, sunny day in June with perfect panel orientation, no shade, clean panels, etc., to approach that, so probably would never happen in practice. The SE7600 has a fan in addition to convection cooling, so it makes a small amount of noise on sunny days (not a big deal in the garage).

[J.P.M.]

LG seems to be a good middle ground for price / efficiency / longevity.
They are even having a contest giving away $10K right now if any manufacturer or installer can beat their panel watt for watt.

https://www.lgenergy.com.au/lg-solar-profile/lg-energy-news/our-10-000-challenge

My installer estimates actually showed LG providing more savings for the lifetime of the panel compared to the more expensive SunPower when taking into account the price of the panel too. But they still sell 3x more SP compared to LG cause people seem to want the better warranty.

Sunpower has a good product. They also have better hype and more advertising. Most people swallow that. It's also one of the big reasons I owned S.P. stock until about 1 month ago. IMO, a good part of their success is built on people's need/desire/ability to believe a story.

S.P. is usually about the least cost efficient solar product on the market, in terms of levelized cost of electricity (LOCE). The warranty may well be a red herring. So far most panels do not fail much - S.P. or any other quality product. Think of Sunpower as coming with extra warranty coverage that's overpriced to begin with and you don't get to decline.

Anecdotally, at my location, using SAM and some stuff I've written, and FWIW, LG 300's perform slightly better on an annual basis than S.P. 327's on a per installed kW of capacity basis for about a buck a Watt less before tax credit. If you want warranty, that will buy a lot of spare panels.

[bmarler]

Sounds good to me. We just put in 24 LG305 panels six weeks ago, with an SE7600 inverter and power optimizers, for about $3.50 a watt. It's a great system; no worries with the LG panels.

$3.45 would be a very good price here in the San Diego area.

Is the SE6000 big enough? It's maximum output is 6000 watts AC: if you max out the 315 watt panels, the 7245 DC watt input is within margins, but even with losses, I think you'd exceed 6000 AC watts out, no? Of course, you'd need a very clear, sunny day in June with perfect panel orientation, no shade, clean panels, etc., to approach that, so probably would never happen in practice. The SE7600 has a fan in addition to convection cooling, so it makes a small amount of noise on sunny days (not a big deal in the garage).

Thanks for the feedback. I have a center fed electrical panel. Installer said a SolarEdge 6k inverter is fine for a 7k watt system. Sounds like I should go ahead and upgrade the panel and get a larger inverter. Thoughts? Thanks.

[Carl_NH]

Thanks for the feedback. I have a center fed electrical panel. Installer said a SolarEdge 6k inverter is fine for a 7k watt system. Sounds like I should go ahead and upgrade the panel and get a larger inverter. Thoughts? Thanks.

We installed 24 LG300 7.2KW with the SE6000 inverter and it runs fine and it is quiet - no fan. The only down side is it does clip (flatline) but only on perfect days and about maybe 2 months a year when sun angle and everything is in perfect alignment. As another member here pointed out this equates $100 a year in production, and over time as panels age, the actual output will go down (.7% per year) so this will become a non-issue at that time (5-7 years out).

Also it has been stated here, that pushing the inverter or maxing it out provides the highest efficiency. I have attached two pictures below one in showing the flat line for 2 hours in April and then same in August - both of these were perfect days no clouds and you can see August its not close to 6KW.

The other option is to install the SE7600, but this will be a price increase - probably $4-500 range then the cost of the new panel ? $1000 ? so it will take you 8-10 years to get the ROI.

Do you have shading so you need to use the SE Optimizers and inverters? If not, you would be better off with an SMA 7000 inverter with 2 strings of 12 panels each.

[bmarler]

Thanks. Very helpful and sounds like I'm good to go with the SE 6k. We have slight shading issues but also limited space on the roof. Based on possible layouts, installer said they can get more panels on with SE. I need as many panels as possible.

[forrest1]

Thanks. Very helpful and sounds like I'm good to go with the SE 6k. We have slight shading issues but also limited space on the roof. Based on possible layouts, installer said they can get more panels on with SE. I need as many panels as possible.

I think that's a good plan. Carl_NH makes some good points: looking back at my own output data, I probably could have gone with the SE6000 also.

[bmarler]

Thanks everyone!!!