Presently considering solar so I'd like to know about the latest and greatest solar panels available now or in the very near future. Small system about 600kwh per month possibly battery backup or off grid.

At $1/watt, 600kw is $600,000. Large enough to hire some real experts.

600 kw is a HUGE array- enough to power up a small village!

Or did you mean 6kw- not huge, not tiny, in the range of what easily fits on the roofs of average sized US houses?

Grid tied vs. off grid makes a significant difference in what would be an appropriate size for the array, and the battery racks.

Currently installing a 5.985 kW system on my house. They are using 21 Sunmodule Plus SW 280 Mono Black. Had to fight my HOA for 6 weeks to finally get approval. They claimed the neighbors would object. I proved them wrong on that assumption.

I'm the first one in the neighborhood to go solar so hopefully they will get more accustomed to the technology and other adopters will have an easier go of it.

Selecting panels is straight forward. I'd start with a careful review of local net metering rules.

He said 600 kWh per month - notice the "h" or hour. I typically use 700 to 1100 kWh per month at my all-electric 2000 sq ft home with a family of 4.

Without knowing details such as his location, obstructions, summer vs. winter, etc, I will assume 4 hours per day based on the link below:

600 kWh/30 days x 1 day/4 hours = 5 kW. That would be a rough estimate of the size of the solar panels needed assuming 4 hours per day of equivalent full capacity output.

http://www.solardirect.com/pv/syste...hours.html

arkie6- the "h" only appeared after he edited it... ( I doubt both jonr & I would mis-read it as kw, especially since I kept looking at it and wondering if kwh/month was what was intended, which is why I twisted his tail a bit, just did jonr did. :-) )

When SolarCity get's it's Silevo technology factory going in Buffalo NY I'd expect the quailty to be super-high, as well as the 21%+ run-of-the mill efficiency. But if it only takes a 5kw system it might be cheaper to go with a lower efficiency commodity panel at a somewhat lower price point.

To deliver 600kwh for the month in a dark & snowy January month in New England might take a 10kw system. (That's why grid vs. off-grid really matters.)

New members get a free pass, but it's best to enter a new response or edit a post with something like "(edit: 600 kwh/mo)".

What about PV-T panels. Seems like the smart way to go.