Sunpower/Panasonic/LG

[Big Neil]

So just thought i'd take a peak at various panels just to knob up on specs and sizes and what not. I know there are other makes of course, but i found 3 quite similarly spec'd examples from the three manufcaturers in the thread title so thought i'd use them as a baseline for now.

 

Several questions.

Has anyone been in a position of having to choose between these three manufacturers and gone with one? What were your reasons?

Given that they all Provide notionally identical warranties on product and power, is the small variance in % efficiency a bother to anyone?

Why is it that I can easily find a price (£204 on first pass) for a LG NeON® 2 Black panel of 320WP, (£252.25) for a Panasonic HIT KURO N325K but nothing for the equivalent Sunpower (X21)?

Do alternative, much cheaper panels, provide a similar cost per unit generated, when one also considers the efficiency difference, so lets say for example a 250 watt panel with say 18% efficiency?

Anyone considered Viridian as an alternative to these?

[Gone West]

I did look at Perlight as well as LG and Panasonic when I was thinking about installing PV. I'm still wondering if it would be worth it.

 

https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/perlight-monocrystalline-solar-panels/perlight-delta-285.html

 

[Big Neil]

Wow, they look nice, and cheap as well, certainly in comparison to others. I can't see the % efficiency figures on there anywhere. Probably missed them but do you know the figure by chance?

IN either case it would have to be pretty decent i guess. Just looking at the LG cost I found that's 0.7 W per £ more. 

 

[Big Neil]

what did you favor when you were looking? I assume you were going to do it all yourself, so was if based largely on cost per watt?

[Ed Davies]

2 hours ago, Big Neil said:

I can't see the % efficiency figures on there anywhere.

 

Why do you care? There are three parameters of interest: price, power output and number you can fit in the intended area. Efficiency obviously affects the total power you can get from an area but since you can't fit n+½ rows or columns it's only of secondary importance. You pay more per watt for high efficiency panels (ones with smaller area) so think carefully whether that's actually important to you.

[Gone West]

3 hours ago, Big Neil said:

Probably missed them but do you know the figure by chance?

 

This is the data sheet for them.

Perlight Delta Data.pdf

 

[Big Neil]

Well whilst the numbers seem to be fairly close as far as i've found so i suppose are a non matter to a large degree, i just want to know. 

[Big Neil]

quality thanks. I'll interrogate it later.

[A_L]

5 hours ago, Big Neil said:

Do alternative, much cheaper panels, provide a similar cost per unit generated

 

Cheaper panels generally cost less per unit generated. As Ed has said the only real advantage from higher efficiency panels is that they use less roof space. They do not necessarily produce more energy from the same output rating. Possibly of more importance is the 'power coefficient', which can usually be found in the electrical details part of a spec sheet, a number usually between -0.25 and -0.45 which indicates how much output falls with rising temperature. From your quoted panels I would expect the Panasonics to produce perhaps 50kWh/yr/kWp than the LGs, with the Sunpowers somewhere in-between. However once again increased cost of these panels usually means that more cheaper panels are preferable, unless you have to keep under a specific panel output.