Used Thin Film Solar Panels at 15 Cents per Watt

[Meredith Poor + 883]

Screen shot of an ad by a company warehousing these in Miami.

Solar farms that get trashed by weather events or warranty issues (think of Walmart and Amazon suing Tesla, for example) are taken apart and packed up. Some or all of the panels are floated on the 'surplus' markets. There are generally restrictions on reusing these on large scale projects, such as rooftop solar or utility. They will tend to be used by hobbyists powering weather stations, battery chargers, remote security cameras, etc. Someone that would want to power their house or recharge their EV would need to mount these on something like a shed or shipping container, or some special built structure at a reasonable distance from an inhabited structure.

Now that solar farms are being built on 100Mw and 1Gw scales, the secondary markets have the potential for being enormous.

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,129]

2 hours ago, Meredith Poor said:

Screen shot of an ad by a company warehousing these in Miami.

Link Please: send to my email which is my name since putting said link in would be in violation of this forums rules for advertising etc.  I have a roof that needs reroofing and would like to reroof it in solar panels that I modify to make them water tight.  Used panels would be the PERFECT place to start. 

Thanks

If not, stop posting lying FRAUD

Edited August 24, 2019 by footeab@yahoo.com

[Meredith Poor + 883]

First of all, used panels (or tiles) should not be put on a house. Your insurance company won't insure it. If you have some kind of outbuilding or carport it should be OK to put them there.

I tried keyword searching 'used - 70 watt thin film modules 15 cents' on Google and it doesn't return the page or the company. At various times in the past the owner of this business would complain about Google, and various efforts by competitors to lock him out of the search rankings.When I try this term on Bing I can't find the page either, so I can see why you think I might be lying.

I'm not promoting any particular business, I don't know these people from direct experience. I am aware that the business has been around a long time and has operations in multiple cities. If you keyword search 'It just dawned on me: Marine and RV Don’t Need UL and the Size of' you'll get his blog post. This should lead you back to the main website.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

4 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Link Please: send to my email which is my name since putting said link in would be in violation of this forums rules for advertising etc.  I have a roof that needs reroofing and would like to reroof it in solar panels that I modify to make them water tight.  Used panels would be the PERFECT place to start. 

Thanks

If not, stop posting lying FRAUD

First you ask for Meredith's assistance, then you end with a statement that implies that he may be a lying fraud.

I think that you should count yourself lucky that he bothered to take the time to reply to you and explain the situation.

There is no excuse for bad manners...

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

4 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

There is no excuse for bad manners..

There never is. 

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,129]

4 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

First you ask for Meredith's assistance, then you end with a statement that implies that he may be a lying fraud.

I think that you should count yourself lucky that he bothered to take the time to reply to you and explain the situation.

There is no excuse for bad manners...

Frankly I am shocked Meredith did reply.  This is not the first or second rodeo of searching I have undertaken and called around for used panels and for which Meredith has posted before with no follow up. 

So, how many times do you get to post before someone says, put up or shut up and its not "bad manners"? 

Frankly I am more shocked that it is true for used panels.  Got some ordered. 

[James Regan + 1,776]

17 minutes ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Frankly I am shocked Meredith did reply.  This is not the first or second rodeo of searching I have undertaken and called around for used panels and for which Meredith has posted before with no follow up. 

So, how many times do you get to post before someone says, put up or shut up and its not "bad manners"? 

Frankly I am more shocked that it is true for used panels.  Got some ordered. 

I saw an article somewhere that apparently Solar Panels don't like heat which comes from sunlight (I assume) and also snow covering has a negative effect, we need to think of a new name, as I am sure this will and has been misleading consumers especially in areas with lots of Solar activity (Does the Sun actually cause heat = sunlight)?

Edited August 25, 2019 by James Regan

[James Regan + 1,776]

Brasil shows the way for the future in Solar Panel Lighting, sounds cost effective doesnt it.....

https://translate.google.com.br/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=https://extra.globo.com/noticias/rio/arco-metropolitano-tem-4-mil-postes-de-iluminacao-sem-necessidade-segundo-dnit-20529444.html&prev=search

The left Upper shows the state when installed, the Lower the current situation (well it worse actually as this photos a year old), after millions of dollars were syphoned from taxes by the left wing Governor of Rio and Leftist PT Government.

Only 72Kms with a spacing of 17mtrs apart resulting in 4310 panels being installed at R$97 Million-BRL- $33 Million USD

Going Green has a lot of issues to sort out, its a money spinner.

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by James Regan

[Meredith Poor + 883]

6 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Frankly I am shocked Meredith did reply.  This is not the first or second rodeo of searching I have undertaken and called around for used panels and for which Meredith has posted before with no follow up. 

So, how many times do you get to post before someone says, put up or shut up and its not "bad manners"? 

Frankly I am more shocked that it is true for used panels.  Got some ordered. 

I don't like it when people spam discussion groups, which goes on all the time. Therefore I'm circumspect about naming a company or a promoter. I strip all that out in order to keep the conversation 'informational' only.

It's my thought that if someone can see something exists, then they should be able to find it. However, the follow up post hinted that this wasn't as easy as it looked. I found a way to 'meet in the middle'. With respect to solar in general, it takes some poking around to find the lowest cost sources. The business gets brutal, and vendors game the search engines to drive off low cost competitors.

[markslawson + 1,042]

17 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

So, how many times do you get to post before someone says, put up or shut up and its not "bad manners"? 

footeab - concentrate.. its not about calling Meredith Poor out as such but in using intemperate, unparliamentary language in doing so.. the moderators did not remove the post - I'm not arguing that point - but the post was worthy of a reprimand, so consider yourself reprimanded by the community.  

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,129]

On 8/25/2019 at 6:08 AM, Meredith Poor said:

I don't like it when people spam discussion groups, which goes on all the time. Therefore I'm circumspect about naming a company or a promoter. I strip all that out in order to keep the conversation 'informational' only.

FYI... I have called 3 of their phone numbers during business hours, left messages wanting to buy ~$1000 -->$3000 of their product, left email at their sales guys, and no one is home.  It would appear to not be a business that is.... in business. 

Too good to be true.  Selling used solar panels at the cost of metal roofing.... yea

[Meredith Poor + 883]

4 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

FYI... I have called 3 of their phone numbers during business hours, left messages wanting to buy ~$1000 -->$3000 of their product, left email at their sales guys, and no one is home.  It would appear to not be a business that is.... in business. 

Too good to be true.  Selling used solar panels at the cost of metal roofing.... yea

Another friend of mine has made several attempts to contact them and had the same results. Someone answers, but 'they'll get back to you'. They invite you to drop in on their HQ/Warehouse. I actually drove by their warehouse while I was on a cruise out of Miami, but they had just moved to a newer and bigger location, so I didn't meet anyone or see anything. This is part of the reason I keep them at arm's length, I really don't know much more than what they say on their website.

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

[NickW + 2,714]

Back in June I bought a 260w panel for 60 (pounds) in London  which was second hand and quite functional. (30 cents / w equivalent)

Not quite as cheap as the post Meredith suggests but there is a big supply of second hand panels on the market that's for sure as existing sites up-power.

[NickW + 2,714]

1 hour ago, Tom Kirkman said:

Apples and oranges comparison

If this generator was needed for a one off event  hiring a generator is going to be cheaper than buying a panel, inverter, battery set up.

[NickW + 2,714]

On ‎8‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 1:30 AM, Meredith Poor said:

First of all, used panels (or tiles) should not be put on a house. Your insurance company won't insure it. If you have some kind of outbuilding or carport it should be OK to put them there.

I tried keyword searching 'used - 70 watt thin film modules 15 cents' on Google and it doesn't return the page or the company. At various times in the past the owner of this business would complain about Google, and various efforts by competitors to lock him out of the search rankings.When I try this term on Bing I can't find the page either, so I can see why you think I might be lying.

I'm not promoting any particular business, I don't know these people from direct experience. I am aware that the business has been around a long time and has operations in multiple cities. If you keyword search 'It just dawned on me: Marine and RV Don’t Need UL and the Size of' you'll get his blog post. This should lead you back to the main website.

The bloke  I bought the panel off said most sales were to people putting panels on flat roofs - garages, separate garages or sheds. Some were even mounting them vertically on south facing walls (there is an idea my new house has a huge south facing wall) . Grid tie inverters are cheap these days as are immersion diverters. Anything you don't use as electricity get converted into heat in the water cylinder so no free contribution to the leccy company.

[Meredith Poor + 883]

Now down to 10 cents per watt, in full pallet quantities.

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,129]

4 hours ago, Meredith Poor said:

Now down to 10 cents per watt, in full pallet quantities.

Yea, but they want $2000/pallet to ship...  Pallet of 50.... So, actual cost is ~$0.75/W

[John Foote + 1,135]

And that is thin film, not silicon photo voltaic. Better at handling heat, less efficient, but really it's cost per watt that matters. Ten years ago many viewed thin films was going to become dominant. 

[JZBoozell + 4]

On 8/24/2019 at 3:39 PM, Meredith Poor said:

Screen shot of an ad by a company warehousing these in Miami.

Thank you for post. I did a reverse image search and found a website. This kind of item has many possibilities.

And footeab. please try to do some research before you call someone a fraud. After all he got the image from somewhere and we all know that you can find anything on the internet. So all she have to do is look up where he got the image from. And if you don't know how ask Google thanks

Edited September 27, 2019 by JZBoozell
Removed link