More Solar information.

This isn't going to be very organized unfortunately. This is information I've received so far by doing more research on the web, talking to Jeff Martin@REC Solar and especially from this great site Solar Dave. He's even offered to interview me once I get my system installed, which would be interesting.

At this point, I'm waiting to get estimates from a few other companies before deciding on what I'm getting installed and by who. And of course...financing. If I can't get financing that suits my current income none of this will be possible. I'm still searching around for options and talking to my incredibly amazing mortgage guy.

So here's a chunk of info:
Getting the rebate through Xcel requires that you sign a 20 year contract of some sort. The implication I've heard/seen so far is that you have to agree not to go off grid or install power storage in your house for 20 years. It makes sense...they are giving a gigantic amount of other peoples money in the solar installation rebates, and that money is given to them with the agreement that they use it to promote renewable energy sources. So basically Xcel is paying me a bunch of money to stay attached to the grid and continue generating energy via my solar panels and putting it back into the grid. I'm ok with that. I'd rather have some sort of storage so that if the grid goes down when the solar isn't producing enough I still have power, but maybe some sort of compromise solution is possible. I'll have to find out from Xcel and from the contract when I see it.

I've seen estimates that having an electric car or plugin hybrid increases your system size by about 1kW. Of course, most of the time you're going to be recharging the car when the solar isn't producing, so the 1kW is an approximation for how much additional power you'll have to generate with the system when the sun is available to offset charging the car at night.

I've been looking at the Kyocera, Sanyo, BP and Mitsubishi panels. This is just my take on things, but it looks to me that the Sanyos are the best of the bunch with the Kyocera and BP panels being tied for second and then the Mitsubishi panels are in last. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're all good panels. Here's why I rank them in my mind the way I do:

Sanyo
HIP-195BA are hybrid panels of single crystalline silicon surrounded by amorphous silicon layers. This apparently makes them higher efficiency and gives them the ability to generate energy at lower light levels. If I remember correctly they are more strongly affected by high temperatures, but where I live that isn't a big deal since it doesn't get hot enough to show a difference. Getting comparable efficiency numbers out of the panel makers seems to be somewhat difficult, but these are supposed to be 17% efficient. Higher efficiency means higher energy generation per square foot, so in theory I'm maximizing the amount of power I can generate using higher efficiency panels. The problem being that they are $7.69/DC Watt. The cells are 52"x35"

Kyocera
KD205 GX-LP are polysilicon and have an efficiency of 14.2%. They have a cost of $7.00/DC Watt so quite a bit cheaper than the Sanyos. The cells are 59"x39". So not only are they larger than the Sanyos, they are less efficient.

BP
I haven't looked into these very well, I've been told they are pretty close to the Kyoceras.

Mitsubishi
PV-UO185MFS are 13% efficient, they cost $7.08/DC Watt and are 65"x33". So more expensive, larger and less efficient than the Kyoceras. Apparently people that buy them are buying them for the name.

Xcels rebate is $4.50/Watt or something like that.

Hmmm...that's all I've got at the moment.