Solar panel import from China
Since I spend quite a bit of time in China, I thought it would be fun to import the badly needed solar panels for CocoVivo directly from China. See my earlier post about the sourcing process.
Here is how this went down: Finding a supplier was easy - Sontasun (Foshan) New Material Co.,Ltd.I went there and checked out their plant and their testing setup. They let me send someone to observe the testing and packing, so we knew what went in the box.Almost all the panels tested significantly above the 120W that they were rated to; the test results pictured show 134.9W, so it means we got over 10% more power than we expected out of that one. The shipping process was incredibly complicated. It took my assistant Alice almost a whole month full time just to coordinate everything. On the receiving side, everything was handled beautifully by Ana with BOSS and her partner company in Panama City, TSC. I can highly recommend both companies. The only caveat is that there is a high fixed cost per shipment, so don't do it for anything under $10000 worth of goods. Here is the approximate cost breakdown for the whole operation, in USD China side: 8300 Panel price = 42 Panels * 120W /Panel * $1.65/W
500 Shipment from China
300 Document costs in China (approx.)
500 Alice's time
100 Taxi ride for me to go to the factory
200 QA Time for observing testing Total: 9900 Panama side: 150 Fee to TSC
200 Consolidation charges
350 Panama City -> Bocas freight
150 Custom broker fees
1500 Import duties
150 Fee to BOSS
175 Other TSC expenses for customs release. Total: 2675 Effective cost, not including my time and risk: $2.50 / W. (But note that we got panels that were 10% better than rated). If I add the time I put in, and some compensation for the risk, it would easily come out to $4 per Watt or more. So, my recommendation to Bocas folks: Just order from someone locally, like BOSS or Ruben Chow or Victor in David. Unless you have a larger order. In that case, let me know. For now, I have some extra panels for sale (my old ones, from Victor).
