SunPower or LG?

I am in Northern California, and the quote I got from Sunpower.com directly for a 13.2 kW 33 A series 400W system installed is $3.34/W, I asked my local SunPower authorized installer to beat it, and for the same system, the quote is $3.204/W. All numbers are before incentives & rebates.

Using 36 REC Alpha 365AA all-black panel with IQ7+, the quote I got from the local protrust installer is $2.85/W.

wow, that's great deal thanks for the info! My SunPower quote of 3.94/W is also directly from sunpower.com... I'll continue shopping and ask if local installers can match the price you got. By the way, did you get this price from SP's initial quoting or after bargain?

The $44088 ( 13.2 kW ) quote I got directly from Sunpower.com through a Zoom meeting with their rep without bargain. You need to find an authorized Sunpower dealer to beat it. My other Sunpower installers' quotes for the same system are all above $51K.

"Tier 1" is more about the quality of company than the quality of PV panel. All panels are fabricated using the same or similar equipment and are all very durable (well, we did get a bunch of solder failures out of Suniva one time). Hopefully, a Tier 1 company will be around for awhile - at least as long as the warranty maybe. The other companies come and go and their warranties don't really mean much...

OK, got some updates from more of my recent shoppings. I started to check with a few companies headquartered in S.Cal, and was surprised about the price difference.

Company A: strongly recommended REC, telling me same quality, efficiency, degradation as LG, Panasonic, but less costly, he can do $2.5~2.6/W for a 11KW system, also strongly recommended SolarEdge over micro-inverter due to the clipping issue that gives less production.
Company B: promotes Panasonic EVPV370W, quotes $2.5/W for 11.5kW system with Enphase IQ7+
Company C: also pushes for Panasonic, claim it's No#1 overall outperforms SunPower, considers REC as Tier2 panel/company. But he quoted much more expensive at $3.75/W. Can be either Enphase or SolarEdge, simulated using Aurora with both, and showed about 1.5% less production for Enphase under same panel design which is due to clipping considered. Also had some interesting conversation regarding warranty with this sales, he calls all dealer/installer's warranty a BS, end customers have to deal with manufacturers for parts warranty and only Panasonic covers 25yrs 100% labor warranty - one of the reasons he pushes for Panasonic (LG covers only $450 per case). So basically in his tone, dealer/installer will be pretty much hands off after installation and you are on your own with manufactures, they don't even know whether they will be assigned to service warranty repair it'll be totally in Panasonic hands. This is different from what I was told by pretty much every one else, they all claim to handle warranty between manufacture and end customer... ? I am thinking the guy is speaking reality,
Any comments on this folks? Also any opinions/experiences about LG vs Panasonic vs REC will be appreciated!!!

reality is people spend hrs comparing tech specs to gain 3% effciency,but a few years latter are too lazy to wash their panels to gain 5 to 10% performance effciency. So to answer your question yes, warranties are a joke.

Panasonic stopped making solar panels last year. The chances of them honoring a warranty in 20 years is not exactly high IMHO. I'd be surprised if they are still in business in 20 years, same goes for every local solar company, every solar panel company, etc. because the whole industry is historically unstable and relies on USA gov tax breaks and incentives too much.

LOL.. true about that reality...

There is some misunderstanding about Panasonic's solar business, they plan to cease their OWN manufacturing by March 2022, but they are not out, they just end their own factory operation cost, outsource to a third-party manufacturer and continue sells panels under EverVolt brand name. It's like Apple sells their products with all parts and chips manufactured by other vendors like TSMC. In terms of committed warranty in 25 years, I am most confident about Panasonic and LG, who are $50+ billions giants with revenues from everywhere, and least confident about SunPower or even REC, $200 million or ~$1 billion worth solar only little tiny guys.

Hi there, can you share which solar installer did you get these quotes from? Are all these prices after federal incentives?
I am also in the market for solar.

Thanks.

Panasonic still makes solar panels and given the global push towards green energy I am pretty sure they will remain in the business even if they out source the manufacturing. You notion that Panasonic will be gone in 20 years is based on what? I mean they have only been in business for 103 YEARS !!
How much more of a track record do you need? Even if they stopped making solar panels the parent company would still be responsible for warranty service. I suspect it would even be simpler if they did go out of the solar market as they would probably just issue a pro rated refund rather than ask too many questions. By then you could probably pick up a brand new panel of the same wattage with that money.

That, sir, is simply not correct. https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/02/...manufacturing/

I agree with the rest of what you said though - no way Panasonic is going anywhere, and as large as they are, they will continue to honor their warranties.

Hi, these are before Fed tax credit, the two companies quoted for $2.5/watt are Solar Optimum (Panasonic) and NRG Clean Power (REC). Both companies have good reviews, almost about to go with Solar Optimum, but found the particular sales rep I am dealing with is not very good, first used the wrong address, then gave me a design that puts more than half panels on the north facing roof, also seems lack of knowledge in the field, maybe a newbie..., NRG sales rep is much better and knows what he's doing, but after giving the quote, never gets back to me on my questions... seems very busy. I am interviewing two more companies in S.Cal this week. Another note, I found out from my latest research that Panasonic is highly likely outsourcing EverVolt panels to REC, as they are made in Singapore, and share exactly same specs as REC Alpha series.

I got a quote from NRG (Zach) as well but they were $3.75/watt using 445W REC panels. I'll try Solar Optimum.
Try to get a quote from Suncraftsmen Solar. his price is $3/watt and have good reviews.
What is the system size you're getting quotes on?

about 11KWh

InmarketforPV , Are those quotes Cash option or with financing? The quotes I'm getting with financing are all more than $3/watt.

They are all cash option