Howdy SD Rider,

I haven't heard of the Axitec panels before, but there are hundreds of panels out there so that might not mean to much. In Australia there are a couple of Companies with German names and indeed they have offices in Germany but they buy teir 2 Chinese panels and put their names on them. These panels are typically crap, so I would dig into that company to see if they are indeed made in Germany or are they really a tier 2 Chinese panel. I know Canadian are a good panel and a good company but I think their panels might be made in China now too, not sure.

P.S There is nothing wrong with good tier 1 chinese panels like Trina and Jinko we have been using them for years with almost no problems.

Read up and hopefully someone will be along that knows about Axitec, cheers

Canadian Solar is definitely Chinese panels. I think I read that they are assembled in Canada.

Not much on the web about Axitec.

Not wanting to sound alarmed, but any installer who wants to deviate from the original contract, especially to a brand that no one heard of (or at least not very common) is a huge red flag. There're many members here installed Canadian Solar with good feed backs. Personally I'd insist on CS. Also at $4.34/W (without the panel upgrade), you're paying roughly $1/W more than the average quotes I see from San Diego County. I'm not sure if you have a particularly difficult installation or not, so maybe you can clarify.

I dint like idea if the brand being changed as well. I knife that smaller systems don't get as good as pricing that larger systems get, but I think can probably do a but better than that. From what I've seen $1800 sounds good on the panel.

Look up the coast of that brand of panel vs Canadian Solar - if there is a significant difference, Perthshire you can renegotiate.

$4.33/Watt seems high. Also big + 1 on Thejq's comment on panel change.

When I was getting quotes several months ago, one installer wanted to use Axitec panels. On paper, they look pretty good... but for whatever reason, most of the panels do not score well by the methods used by this group, especially when compared to the score of common Canadian Solar panels. If you want to use those scores as a reason to protest your installers swap, it might be worth contacting that organization to see if they can offer more information on why the scores are what they are.

I've found conflicting information.

One calls Axitec panels German.


Another calls them Chinese.

I asked and am told that they are these panels. They look decent on paper.

Another issue has possibly arisen.

I requested black panels initially, due to aesthetics. This is why the Canadian Solar Panels were chosen by the Sales Rep.

After seeing the picture googled


...and told that they would be poly. Does that mean they will be blue? I've searched and can't find any answers, other than here: http://energyinformative.org/best-so...ine-thin-film/ and it only affirms by picture chosen that poly will be blue. Mono is not spelled out in the contract.

i've only ever seen blue poly panels.

I thought Canadian Solar 250W was also poly, right?

They make both. The poly's seem to be more common, and if 3rd party ratings are to be believed, somewhat superior to their monos.

It is unacceptable for a contractor to tell you that they will be switching the make/model of the solar panel, after you have entered into a contract. They have to request a change, justify the reason, and issue a change order (or new contract) indicating the price change. Presumably they are an expert in their trade, regularly purchase solar panels from a local distributor, and are keenly aware of the availability of the proposed equipment prior to entering into a contract. I'm also assuming that you just recently entered into a contract, not months ago, and therefore your contractor should have known what to quote.

More likely they realized that they could save a couple hundred dollars by shopping for the "deal of the month". As a local contractor, I know that two San Diego distributors both have Canadian Solar 260W poly with black frames in stock, although not 250W. Both are made in China, however Canadian Solar is a highly regarded company that has been around for at least 10 years. Axitec is a much smaller company that started selling panels in the U.S. less than two years ago.

Bottom line this is a red flag and a signal of what to expect in the future.

Thanks for the replies and info.

I brought this up and they pointed out that there is a clause in the contract that states

"panel and inverter selection subject to change based on availability at time of permitting"

They also told me that my city has not approved the permits yet, which I'm assuming is what gives them the availability.
I did insist on black panels/frames and Enphase Micro Inverters.

I'm going to call the city tomorrow...check on the truthfulness and trust.

OMG! They actually wrote this in the contract? This gives the installer unlimited flexibility to change the brand of both panels and inverter. Did you read the permit application? On mine it clearly specified the brands, wattage and model of the panel and inverter. They should not be allowed to change anything after the application is filed. If they specified Axitec + Enphase in the application, your only recourse is to ask for a price adjustment based on the price difference. But it could be a uphill battle, since they can claim that for them it's the same price for which they might even be able to produce fake receipts to show. I wish you all the luck, but I'd be really nervous at this point.