Different solar system components prices are what indicate the whole solar system cost, and that is because not all solar inverters nor solar panels nor installers are the same. Higher quality and certified components will cost more of sure, and here are the 6 factors affecting the solar system price:
1. Silicon solar cell, framing, glass, connectors and diodes types and quality. Also, other components which share to make the final solar panel. Of course there will be cheaper option and expensive option, and logically the expensive option is referring to the high quality and longer life. These differences will be fully noted, and recognized after 10 or 15 years of solar system operation date.
2. Solar system components manufacturer testing, design and quality assurance.
3. The solar inverter quality, certificates and warranty.
4. Solar system installation costs. It will be extra required costs for complicated roofs for example or how connections will be securely done and what will be the costs of system balance like fuse or isolators.
5. Whether there will be some rebated provided by the government or not.
6. Exchange rate, as it you may need to get higher quality and certified solar components from outside the country.
Now, let us discuss the 3 factors affecting solar system price returns:
1. How long will the solar system components last? High quality expensive solar system may pay for itself in 3 years, and it will work perfectly for additional 20 years, so imaging how benefits you get! You will gain thousands of dollars. On the contrary, low quality cheaper solar system may pay for itself in 4 years, but fails after 7-8 years. It will be big difference in financial returns for both cases.
2. Will we use p type silicon solar cell or n type silicon solar cell. Generally, p type is cheaper than p type, but p type has 3 significant advantages; the annual degradation is less than half of p type, better performance in high temperature conditions, and provide more power in low light conditions. So, about 25% increase in solar system output power will be gained in case of using n type solar system.
3. Maintenance and operation times and costs, as one solar panel failure in one string of 10 panels, will massively reduce the generated output power of the whole string panels, the reduction percentage may reach 50% or 70% or more.
Generally installing high quality solar system will be more reliable, cost effective and will provide high financial returns, however also the feed in tariff in your location will affect the return on investment.
