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<DIV>Quote both ways. Then show them the article written by Bill Brooks in the
current issue of Solar Pro.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Holt E. Kelly<BR>Holtek Fireplace & Solar Products<BR>500 Jewell
Dr.<BR>Waco TX. 76712<BR>254-751-9111<BR><A
href="http://www.holteksolar.com">www.holteksolar.com</A><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=marco@pvthawaii.com href="mailto:marco@pvthawaii.com">Marco
Mangelsdorf</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">'RE-wrenches'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, September 08, 2011 1:48
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [RE-wrenches] quite the
conundrum</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In
2008, about 200 Net Energy Metered systems went in on this Big Island of
Hawaii, where I live. About 400 in 2009 and over 800 in 2010. The
same increase in adoption rates took place across the Aloha
State.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">I
think that the next two years or so will bring a stop to this kind of growth
most likely because of the fed grant in lieu of tax credits very likely going
away come 1-1-2012 and a likely change to the HI. state tax credits as well
after this next legislative session as well as the continued progression of
our small island grids becoming more closed to PV due to grid saturation
issues.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Be
that as it may, until there’s a contraction in the PV biz in our Aloha State
(not a question of if but when), we’re going to continue to be in an insanely
competitive sales environment.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">My
commercial sales these past 9 months have been kinda light and I’m bothered by
that. Our standard approach is to always offer the highest efficiency
mods from Brand X. But we’ve been losing sales to others who are
undercutting us by as much as 30 or more percent. No surprise, really,
since these mods are so much more than pretty much the rest of the market,
aside from Brand Y with its HIP and HIT lines.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">I’ve
resisted going all in or even mostly in as far as getting container loads of
good quality Chinese mods as we’ve been hyping ourselves as providers of the
highest efficiency production mods on the planet along with our solid
econoline of U.S.-made mods with a minus zero PT and flash test data for every
mod. But if you hit ‘em with Brand X and they’re not really educated on
Brand X nor asking for the best, any other quotes that they’re considering
from others will make the Brand X quote look way high. And at that time
you can usually kiss the sale good-bye<SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d">.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">So I’m
considering a substantial change in our approach to selling PV. Go
mostly Chinese, go low price to keep up with the competition, offer quotes
using Chinese mods as a standard matter of course and perhaps offer Brand X on
a more limited basis. It just seems to me that the commoditization of
the PV biz these days has most consumers concluding that price is the most
important factor whether the mods come from China, the U.S. or
Timbuktu.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Let
the fireworks begin.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">marco<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
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