[RE-wrenches] sales to-date

[Joel Davidson]

Some California residential PV contractors say permit, fire marshal, 
interconnect, and rebate paperwork adds $1/W to the retail CEC-AC price.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wind-sun.com" <windsun at wind-sun.com>
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 8:15 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] sales to-date


> For us, the stimulus has been - and is expected to be in the future - a 
> big joke. We were lucky in that we get quite a few local off-grid installs 
> and upgrades, because the grid tie market has dropped by over 50% in the 
> past 6 months or so. While panel prices have dropped, it seems like almost 
> all BOS components have gone up, somewhat offsetting the savings.
>
> The one big expense increase we have noticed in the past couple of years 
> or so has been the permitting and paperwork process for grid tie systems. 
> And I am not expecting the slightly improved credit market to help - just 
> in the past 24 hours alone, mortgage interest rates have hit the highest 
> rate since December of last year, up from 4.5% to 5.45% in just a week. On 
> a $300K home, that difference could have paid for a 7kw PV system.
>
> ..................................................................................................
> Northern Arizona Wind & Sun - Electricity From The Sun Since 1979
> Solar Discussion Forum: http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/
> ..................................................................................................
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joel Davidson" <joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>; "RE Marketing for 
> home scale RE industry" <re-markets at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 1:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] sales to-date
>
>
>> This dialogue provides a barometer that helps business owners measure 
>> performance and make plans. Still, I am copying it over to RE-Markets.
>>
>> Industry consultants predict generally lower sales in 2009. See 
>> http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/u.s.-solar-market-so-promising-except-for-2009
>>
>> However, it looks like established Wrenches have carved out a niche for 
>> themselves and/or have sufficient local business. The good news is lower 
>> module prices make PV affordable to more people. The bad news is the 
>> recession has just about eliminated discretionary major purchases, has 
>> put a lot of potential customers out of work, and is creating more 
>> competition as unemployed workers try to find jobs or start businesses in 
>> the highly publicized but still very small "green" market.
>
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