Solar quotes in MA. Please help me chose!

[hoaho309]

I’m in Massachusetts. I have been looking to install solar panels on my house. I got a few different quotes but I'm not sure which one should I consider. Any input would be appreciated!

1. 12.75 kw system with 30 panels Q.TRON blk M-G2+ 425W Panels, IQ8M Micro Inverters -$38,250
2. 13.02kw system with 31 panels REC420AA PURE 2 and IQ8X-80-M-US (240V)inverters -$44,624
3. 15.39kw system with 38 Tesla panels with string inverter- $42,476.For Tesla, they want to put 23 panels on the back roof (south facing) and 15 panels on the front roof (north facing)

All 3 quotes gave me the similar estimated production between 10,500kwh -11,000kwh/year (due to some shading issue)

Which one should I pick? Also, anyone who just had their system installed recently, can you tell me what's your price per kw? What is the average price in MA? Thank you!!

[organic farmer]

What state are you in?

[hoaho309]

Hi, I’m from Massachusetts.

[organic farmer]

I do not know, My system cost half of what your quotes are saying, and my system is off-grid [including a battery bank].

Hopefully, someone from Mass will join the thread soon.

[Mike 134]

Have you checked how many RECs you'll receive? Once upon a time MA paid $285 per REC. Do the proposals state who receives that money? At the generation they estimate someone could get
11MWH X $285= $3135/yr

[Keiichi25]

Not from Mass. so you can take some of what I say with a grain of salt.

But if I recall correctly, REC panels are probably going to be the 'best' you can get, as their efficiency drop should be the lowest over time (Like at most 8%) where as the Tesla ones I think are a wee bit higher (Around 12%, I think). Don't know about Q.Tron's efficiency drop over time.

The key things to note is the type of panels you are getting and the inverters you are going to use.

Since there is no mention of a battery system and it seems like you are a heavy draw on power during the day and shading, the balacing point would be whether or not you want all the panels working efficiently (Which may require microinverters based on the shading concern) or just functional.

From what I have heard, string inverters are cheaper, but when it comes to efficiency with shading, the array with the string inverter will lower the section of the array on the same string inverter, where as the micro inverters, only the panels getting the shading will not be effective.

Another thing to consider is how that 'shading' is working. While the Tesla suggestion wants to put some on the north side, the question would be what factors are encouraging this decision by the designer. And are the other two quotes showing how they are possibly designing their system taking account of your shading factor.

[Rade]

Rhode Island here. That sounds about right for pricing in-region. We had to official bids by the time we were ready for solar (both in that price range) and we went with GENERAC; 32 panels that can generate up to 13.2kWH of power (we hit that a few times this summer). We added 18kW battery storage. The inverter, panels and battery are all GENERAC; no third party. Also, be wary of an installer who wants to mount on the NORTH side of your house. We don't live in Southern California, and unless your roof has little to no pitch, the solar production is going to be limited to about 5 months. We have a really nice, clear North facing roof line but it does not see much sunlight from about now through early May and we are in North Tiverton RI (just below Fall river). Our panels are on the South face of our house, and on the East and West sides of the garage. North facing panels are not going to offer you much more than taking up roof space for most of the year.

We like GENERAC - the few issues we hit post installation were resolved with one phone call or text. The installation looks incredible and a big selling point was their willingness to work with us through a construction project well before going under contract for the solar. Our regional rep got the GENERAC electrician to work with our construction crew to pre-install the cable runs for the garage arrays. Just nice folks to work with, stem to stern. The system works well. The GENERAC PWRView app gives enough control over the system configuration through our smart phones and tablets.

We were interested in the Tesla Power Wall, but they just did not have a good support network in our region at the time.