I'm looking at quotes and the prices vary a lot. One company quoted me 450 thousand pesos for 5 kW, another 650 thousand. Plus I don't know if it's better to do it all at once or buy it in parts. Has anyone already done this and can tell me how much they paid and how long it takes to recover the investment?
that 200k peso difference between quotes is screaming at you that someone's throwing in battery storage and you didn't even realize it! a grid-connected system is one thing (cheaper) but having lithium battery backup is something completely different, which is what most people want but nobody explains clearly in their quotes.
as for getting your money back, if it's a simple 5 kW system without a battery you're looking at around 4-5 years payback roughly, but that depends on how much energy you actually use and whether you're taking advantage of daytime generation - if your consumption is all at night then forget about those numbers!
Don't just take those quotes at face value without investigating exactly what they include. The difference between 450 and 650 thousand pesos is huge, so before comparing numbers keep in mind whether one includes installation, technical inspection, paperwork with your utility company, extended warranty, and what brand the panels and inverter are. A lot of times the cheapest quote leaves out stuff that costs you a ton to add later. Ask them to break down every single item for you and clarify how many years of warranty they're offering on equipment and labor.
About recovering your investment: forget about thinking they'll pay it back in some magic number of years. It depends on how much energy you use, how much your utility company charges you, whether you have surplus to sell, and whether the government keeps the incentives or not (which here in Argentina changes all the time). Talk to people in your area who've already installed it, not salespeople. They'll tell you if they actually saw their bill go down or if it's an expense that's just now starting to break even.
Going piece by piece usually ends up costing more because you pay for shipping and installation twice, and plus equipment prices can change. If you're going to do it, better to do it all at once if you can. Either way, before you sign anything, verify the company is registered and that they give you references from actual customers in your area, not made-up names. I always ask for phone numbers from people who did it and call them personally before I put money into something like that.
The prices you see vary so much because each quote has different things bundled in 🤔 One might include the inverter, batteries, monitoring, and full installation; another might just have the panels and a basic inverter. Before comparing numbers, make sure you check exactly what materials and brands each one lists, who's doing the installation, and whether they include extended warranty or maintenance for the first few years.
What nobody tells you is that it's worth asking for quotes by requesting the exact same thing everywhere: specify that you want 5 kW with an inverter from such-and-such brand, batteries or no batteries, and that everything comes installed ready to use. That way you're really comparing apples to apples. Also, before you sign anything, look up references for each company in your area, because there's a lot of trouble with some installers who disappear after they're done.
As for doing it all at once or in stages, most people I know who got into this did it all in one go because expanding later is a huge hassle 😅 The inverter has a maximum capacity, and if you want to add more panels next year, you need to reconfigure everything. As for getting your money back, it depends on how much your electricity bill is and how much sun your area gets, but we're talking years, not months. The thing is that in the long run it saves you a ton.
Have you actually asked directly what happens if a panel gets damaged in year three or year ten? Because what nobody tells you in the quotes is manufacturer warranty versus installer warranty - it's one thing for the panel to have 25 years of coverage and a completely different thing for your local company to replace it for free if it fails. That's why those price variations can also reflect who's on the hook if something goes wrong, not just whether batteries are included or not. I'd say before you go with the lowest number, call a couple of companies and ask them specifically: what does the warranty cover, how much would it cost to expand the system later if you decide to add batteries in a couple of years, and whether they offer remote monitoring included or if it's extra.
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