Oversupply and lower material costs help reduce solar panel and battery prices in South Africa

[Jan]

Good news for solar panel and battery prices in South Africa

Oversupply and a price battle between Chinese manufacturers with growing manufacturing capacity have sent solar panel and battery prices in South Africa downwards in the last few months.

That is according to two reputed solar installation companies — AWPower and Solar Advice.

 

[Gordon_R]

Thanks. Factual and useful article.

 

[Death]

I've yet to see from my pricing of inverters and lithium batteries any reduction from the places I've been looking at unfortunately.

 

[Gtx Gaming]

I've yet to see from my pricing of inverters and lithium batteries any reduction from the places I've been looking at unfortunately.

My local store has been reducing pricing and increasing with higher stages of loadshedding lol

 

[Imoe]

I am busy with my second phase-panels only, received a quote in early June 2023. Contacted the installer last week to finalise installation and the the quote was ~3k cheaper discount was on the 550W solar panels which are now ~R400 cheaper each

 

[yebocan]

Good news for solar panel and battery prices in South Africa

Oversupply and a price battle between Chinese manufacturers with growing manufacturing capacity have sent solar panel and battery prices in South Africa downwards in the last few months.

That is according to two reputed solar installation companies — AWPower and Solar Advice.

thank you, China...so the visit by Mr Electric City Min Electricity was worthwhile after all...

 

[lkpat]

Just beware the many many scammers being pushed by Google these days.

Would be interesting to see how many are actually legit.

 

[RaptorSA]

Nice!
Sadly I missed this train by a few weeks.

To those looking to get a "smaller" single lithium battery system: Don't do the usual 5kWh battery thing like I did, get a 10Kwh instead. I see some decent deals on those going around now.

Even with only 3 550Watt panels on my current battery is just too puny to store all the power coming in on a sunny day.

Would actually like to get rid of my current battery but have no idea what the 2nd hand market for these thing look like, I'm assuming it's probably not worth selling it.

 

[RaptorSA]

I've yet to see from my pricing of inverters and lithium batteries any reduction from the places I've been looking at unfortunately.

There's definitely some decent deals floating out there.
Just a quick google brings up stuff like this:



That's barely more than I paid for a crappier battery half the capacity just a few months ago.

 

[GrootVoet]

There's definitely some decent deals floating out there.
Just a quick google brings up stuff like this:

View attachment 1561860

That's barely more than I paid for a crappier battery half the capacity just a few months ago.

That is a sweat deal.

 

[lkpat]

Nice!
Sadly I missed this train by a few weeks.

To those looking to get a "smaller" single lithium battery system: Don't do the usual 5kWh battery thing like I did, get a 10Kwh instead. I see some decent deals on those going around now.

Even with only 3 550Watt panels on my current battery is just too puny to store all the power coming in on a sunny day.

Would actually like to get rid of my current battery but have no idea what the 2nd hand market for these thing look like, I'm assuming it's probably not worth selling it.

I did this with a freedom won 10/8. When I wanted an upgrade I realized I had to get another 10, I couldn't go +5. Another 80k later when I decided to do it.

 

[wingnut771]

I did this with a freedom won 10/8. When I wanted an upgrade I realized I had to get another 10, I couldn't go +5. Another 80k later when I decided to do it.

Why couldn’t you go with 10 + 5? They are in parallel, they will drain equally.

 

[lkpat]

Why couldn’t you go with 10 + 5? They are in parallel, they will drain equally.

Manufacturer says no can do. Also, if they drain equally, what happens after draining 10kwh (5 from each)

 

[wingnut771]

Manufacturer says no can do.

I bet you they would not be able to provide you with a reason if you challenged them.

 

[lkpat]

I bet you they would not be able to provide you with a reason if you challenged them.

I bet they would. Why would you think you know more than the manufacturer? I've had this confirmed by two installers as well.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

So we've run out of people with enough money to install a solar system...

 

[wingnut771]

I bet they would. Why would you think you know more than the manufacturer? I've had this confirmed by two installers as well.

What were the reasons?

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Why couldn’t you go with 10 + 5? They are in parallel, they will drain equally.

AFAIK only Pylontech allows you to mix and match sizes for certain batteries.

The others require you to match the same size, and in most cases, the same model...

 

[rh1]

AFAIK only Pylontech allows you to mix and match sizes for certain batteries.

The others require you to match the same size, and in most cases, the same model...

I was hoping not, dont really want to add Hubble AM2, since I believe I got lucky with first two batteries, I dont like pushing my luck. And they seem to be the most expensive at the moment.

 

[lkpat]

The only way you're going to get away with it is to ditch BMS and set them up without CAN - allow the inverter to decide based on voltage whether the batteries need charging or not... and that's a crapshoot since V drops significantly under heavy load.