If it was me, after I disabused myself of the folly of working with Sunrun and the other bottom feeders, I'd get a better or at least some estimate of what your expected total annual usage will be before I worried about which panel to buy. I would SWAG about 3 miles/kWh as an EV electrical budget.
Your PVWatts model's output is a long-term average. The most likely outcome will be maybe +/- 10% of that number over any 365 day period. I'm in 92026 with close to optimum orientation with ~ 3.5 % annual shade and my 10+ year old system produces ~ 1,736 kWh/running 365 day period per installed STC kW, +5.4/-4.6 % over that 10+ yr. period. Annual system output degradation is ~ 0.35% to ~ 0.40% or so and seems pretty linear with respect to time.
As for your choice of panels, know that beyond some basic quality level, panels are pretty much a commodity. All decent quality panels are all pretty reliable and all about equal in terms of annual output per installed STC W. Just don't buy rock bottom quality.
Also, if you have no shade problems, do yourself a big favor (IMO) for a lot of reasons and skip the equalizers for a straight string inverter setup. Less complicated == less to go wrong, KISS rules. The pages on the site are littered with horror stories about optimizers and micro inverters compared to problems posted about string inverters. Take a look and see what i'm writing about.
Some others here are better qualified to comment on your 3d question.
I'd add that those system prices you write of seem high, especially for a DIY job, even after all the price gouging going on as a result of the 04/13/2023.
Welcome to the neighborhood.
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Welcome to Solar Panel Talk.
All I can say is that performing a DIY install may require you to jump through some legal hoops to satisfy the AHJ and POCO. Some members have done it and saved money others ran into issues with the legal process and hardware failures. I hope you can do the work and get your system installed.Leave a comment:
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San Diego DIY install
I have received some crazy quotes for a system at my house. One was 10KW (sunrun) for $45k and the other was for 12KW for $42k(400W Panasonic panels, enphase micro inverters). I want to get the NEM 2.0 agreement and install myself (with help). I have an EV as well as 3 heat pumps + a pool heat pump all being installed this year so I will not really know my power needs exactly. I have been running avg 37KW per day according to my bill so a 10KW system or greater is best. PVWATT says a 12KW system will produce ~20,000KWH a year at my location. My roof has good southern exposure with room for a 10KW system and a huge amount of west facing area for spillover. Couple of questions:
1. I am planning on using Enphase Energy IQ8 IQ8M-72-2-US micro inverters. But since I have no shade problems (except for marine layer!) should I use these?
2. The application to SDGE requires a specific panel model number and I need to submit this application ASAP. I have narrowed the panels down to Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10+ 400 and Panasonic EVPV400HK. Are these good choices? Any other panels that would be better?
3. Although not necessary, I would like to have an AC disconnect switch. Will a 60amp switch work for a 12KW setup? Would a Siemens HNF362PV 60 A, 600V AC/DC, 3 pole, NEMA 1 be a good choice?
I am looking forward to this project and can def spend the money saved on install elsewhere. Any help appreciated.
Thanks for reading
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