Solar energy Incentive

[bumper]

Hmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[glalt]

This is not as good as it sounds. When it is overcast and or cloudy, the output drops to about 200 watts, often even lower.

[rjj04]

glalt - those are the 280W Suntech panels or the other ones, I think you said they were 310W? Anyway, that is close to full spec, in this heat, that is very good output. Perhaps they are getting more wind for cooling effect? I have a 600W grid-tie, I'm wondering if that would work for you? It drops out sometimes when the panels are too hot and the Voc gets too low. My new house is almost ready and my system is off-line now as in a week or so, hopefully, I'll be putting the racking up on the roof and wiring things up again. Anyway, you are welcome to try my 600W inverter if youd' like. I can only hope to be as lucky as you that when I put my panels on the new roof the power jumps up... oh that would be nice to see!!!!!! [-o<

ukmasterzzzz - I have never heard of 20A panels. Are they 72 cell, 12V panels? Vmp 14V at 20A would be 280 Watts. Where is this shop in NaKae? Wherever NaKae is 15,000 for 280W panels would be about double the price of a 280W panel at Amorn for instance. But the Amorn 280W panels would be at 36V or thereabouts. The 280W Amorn panels would be a bit less than 8A, so you could put two in parallel to up the amperage.

[glalt]

One panel is a monocrystalline 310 watt and the other is a 275 watt Suntech polycrystalline. Today was a cool day and the panels are mounted on a frame that holds them off the roof about five inches allowing for good air circulation. When the sun was out, there was a nice clear blue sky and the sun was very bright. I have emailed the grid tie inverter vendor and asked if the inverter would be damaged or would just shut off. It is supposed to be over current protected.

If I can't use that inverter, I plan to buy another 310 watt panel and leave it connected permanently. I really should have bought a 1000 watt grid tie and I may do that anyways if my battery bank gets fully charged early in the day. I'll have to try to estimate what the payback time would be. It may not be worth the investment. Actually I'll be happy if the battery bank stays fully charged even during normal partly cloudy days.

[glalt]

By the way, thanks rjj04 for the 600 watt inverter loan offer. I have emailed Siam Green power and asked them to quote a 325 watt Poly panel for me. No answer after two days. Does Amorn still have the 310 watt panels available? I have decided to mount a 310 watt or bigger panel if possible for my 500 watt grid tie inverter and leave it permanently connected. The 20 amp controller at the farm is still working with no faults. YET!

[rjj04]

Well glalt there was some self interest in the offer. I thought if that 600W inverter worked well for you we could swap for your 500W inverter...since my panels are apparently not getting even close to full output.

Go to page 33, the 3rd post down. It shows the current offerings from Amorn. From the leaflet Amorn has, they do not have the 310W panels any more.

[glalt]

I did receive an email from Amorn. The two largest panels are on sale until the 30th.

1. Solar Cell Panel Poly Module “ Solar Land “ 280W Normal Cost = Baht 8,400 Special Cost this month until June 30, 2014 = Baht 7,400 net

2. Solar Cell Panel Poly Module “ Schutten “ 295W Normal Cost = Baht 8,850 Special Cost this month until June 30, 2014 = Baht 7,900 net

I have still not received a reply from Siam Green Power. Not a good sign.

[rjj04]

Amorn... testimony to "Amazing Thailand"

They seem to be changing their prices every five minutes. Check the table in the top right corner of the page...


Perhaps it is all a matter of negotiating.

[rjj04]

glalt - what was the email address you used? I'd like to see what else is "on sale" until June 30th. Thx!!

[glalt]

Here's the entire email along with the address;

On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 11:01 AM, <vachira@amorngroup.com> wrote:
Good Morning Mr. Gary.

Thank you for your interest in Amorn Solar, sorry to disturb you that our Website is not active and fast response, we are now on the process of developing the Website page.

Regarding to your kindly request, we would like to say that we have a Service served you by

1. You confirm the Product and take away from Udonthanee Store

2. You confirm the Product and let our store send the product to you after confirmation, but we have to charge you for Product Delivery Shipment.


We do have offer a choice of Big Size Panel, 1st grade quality, 10 years warranty, lifetime 25 years for 1st Grade quality panel
1. Solar Cell Panel Poly Module “ Solar Land “ 280W Normal Cost = Baht 8,400 Special Cost this month until June 30, 2014 = Baht 7,400 net

2. Solar Cell Panel Poly Module “ Schutten “ 295W Normal Cost = Baht 8,850 Special Cost this month until June 30, 2014 = Baht 7,900 net


You could save a lot by making decision to buy within this promotion period for Solar Cell Panel Big Size, which you could choose either 280W or 295W, attached I have sent you Product Catalog for Solar Cell Big Panel size for reference.

I hope you satisfy my answer above.

Next product you are interested for MPPT Solar Charge Control, normally in Thailand MPPT is not popular until now, as its cost is so high, even the high quality product for MPPT, therefore, Amorn do serve you “ By Order “ not stock for MPPT Solar Charge Controller, attached you could see the Brochure for MPPT Solar Charger for reference and also price list for MPPT Solar Charger. But as we do not stock MPPT in Thailand, you are to by order and pay deposit 50% for the MPPT order only. We guarantee you could receive the product about 30 days after your deposit payment for MPPT Solar Charger.

But we do stock for Solar Charge Controller , LS-R Series, i wish to send you detail for LS-R series for your choice of decision in case that you could not wait for MPPT Product by order 30 days.

Hope you could get the big picture for Solar Cell Panel Big Size and also Control Charger.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, by the way, if you have Phone Number, please kindly give to us for further contact, and we could make a conversation with you before you come to pick up product.

[glalt]

I had high hopes for Siam Green Power but they apparently are not interested in small purchases. It took two emails to get a quote;

The price is 325W * 65THB plus 7% VAT ex Bangkok. 27,625 THB plus 1,933.75
THB VAT

Total 29,558.75

It looks like Amorn is still the only vendor for us even if they do seem quite confused about the products they sell. Another email from Amorn said that the Suntech panels had no warranty because they had a lot of defective panels. That's why they no longer sell them. They say that they want customer satisfaction.

[rjj04]

I had high hopes for Siam Green Power but they apparently are not interested in small purchases. It took two emails to get a quote;

The price is 325W * 65THB plus 7% VAT ex Bangkok. 27,625 THB plus 1,933.75
THB VAT

Total 29,558.75

It looks like Amorn is still the only vendor for us even if they do seem quite confused about the products they sell. Another email from Amorn said that the Suntech panels had no warranty because they had a lot of defective panels. That's why they no longer sell them. They say that they want customer satisfaction.

65THB/watt ???? So instead of aluminum frames they are made of gold?

[glalt]

The reason I had high hopes for them is because they originally quoted me twelve 300 watt panels for 7,300 baht each plus VAT. They were mono panels. Then I get this crazy quote. Is there that much price difference between 325 and 300 watt?

[rjj04]

Thanks for the Amornsolar email. Vachira responded to my email very quickly. He called me and he speaks English quite well. He sent some technical information and was helpful with questions about the inverter warranty. I asked about the grid-tie systems, and he has responded with about a 9-10% discount. Promotion good until June 30th.

from his emails...
JFY 1.5kw @ 15,000 ( product order 1 month , best selling model, no stock now )
Solar Panel @ 7,900 × 5 pcs = baht 39,500

Set B 2.0k jfy @ 83,200.-
JFY 2.0k @ 20,000 ( stock available )
Solar Panel @ 7,900 x 8 pcs = baht 63,200

Set B 3.0k jfy @ 109,000.-
JFY 3.0k @ 30,000 ( stock available )
Solar Panel @ 7,900 x 10 pcs = baht 79,000


1. Set A 3.6kw Growatt × 1 pc + 10 pcs of 295watts panel, total amount baht 119,000 from baht 135,000 ( save baht 16,000 )

2. Set B 5.0kw Growatt × 1 pc + 16 pcs of 295watt panel, total amount baht 176,400 from baht 199,000 ( save baht 22,600 )

[glalt]

That's encouraging. In the past, customer service just didn't exist. I am going to buy a 295 watt panel and leave it connected to the grid tie permanently. I'm quite happy with my grid tie system with the four 65AH batteries and two panels.

[glalt]

Typo and too late to edit. I'm happy with the two panels, four 65 AH batteries running my off grid home system. During these cloudy days, I'm getting a full charge in my battery bank.

[bumper]

Looks like the government may have came to same conclusion I did the cost out weighs the benefit. If they ever get the cost of installation down, I would still be interested. Hey I'm approved already

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/new ... g-scrutiny

[glalt]

With the general looking into nearly everything, it's very possible that if the payoffs and corruption were eliminated, the price of grid tie solar electric systems could be dropped considerably. Before the coup, it was obvious to me that people did not trust the government.

[bumper]

I'm hoping they take serious look at it still got my approval paperwork. It wasn't bad idea it was just abused.

I doubt they had many takers at the prices I was given. If you could do your own. It would have been OK. But, not thing in life.

In reading this thread you guys who can do your own gets as much enjoyment as you do in savings, there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

[qon]

Hi all,
Maybe I missed the info while speed reading through, I had looked into this business last year and met a large secondhand dealer in BKK that had bought almost all the panels from the Thai electricity authority, panels recovered from the flood. Most panels tested >80% efficiency after cleaning, they are still for sale cheap ~$200/280w, you could run a water pump direct of it, with a couple of backup car batteries. Anyway my point is, all these panels new or old are warranted on percentage of remain efficiency, cheap does not mean much, it's more much capacity you get out or is left in the panels. The panels don't die 100%. So maybe pay some attention there when purchasing, I think they are costed to last 3-5 years where efficiency <50%. Chinese inverters are cheap, but their transformer runs hot and last not that long. The industry prefers inverters with German transformers.

2nd point, when talking about feed back into the national electricity grid, I don't think your average homes, the meter or the grid is capable of handling such a reverse scheme. It does require some infrastructure upgrade. Who is going to pay for it to deliver such service to the homes? if yous setup a solar panel farm, now that is a different kind of fish, it can be arranged with the electricity authority local or national to feed in to the grid; this is where the tax rebate scheme will work. The company gets the rebate, borrow the electricity from your normal supplier to supply to you at an agreed rate, the difference is profit.

3rd, IF the feedback into the grid is possible, it eliminates local in house storage costly problems ie. batteries, danger etc. when the sun is shining you are credited when you feed your excess electricity to the grid, night time you debit from the normal provider. Hopefully the balance at the end of the month would pay for your panels setup. The biggest beneficiary of the scheme is the government, they will reduce infrastructure spending with ever increasing demand for electricity, on the band wagon of clean energy.

The saving is proportional to your electricity lifestyle, if you can survive on a couple of fluro lights, a panel will be good hooked up to car batteries. If you run a machinery tool biz at home, a debit from the grid system is more cost effective. Although the dealer in BKK has his workshop all setup running from solar, an Indian factory owner acquaintance bought 2 containers of panels for his factory as Indian is suffering badly with their electricity supply.

This issue is policy driven from the government, I think at the moment (last year) there is only about 30%/kw incentive in the number, with little long term certainty; it is still risky to invest. Act local, at your home for sure; don't expect too much from the gov. while they are searching for an angle themselves