Hey guys,
As part of my journey for selfsustainability I am leaving no stone unturned and today I wanted to share a bit about my experiences looking at mounting equipment for my upcoming 108 panel array, which is part roof mounted with 44 panels and ground mounted with 64 panels.
I've previously asked for recommendations for an inverter for my setup, but today I am here to give back.
Note: before going any further, caveat: I have not received the goods yet, this is merely my experience up until now.
I am located in Denmark, where solar is a very hot topic right now and I feel as a consequence of that, vendors have dialed prices up just a few notches. I've contacted about 30 different vendors both in DK and abroad and have settled on the supplier https://www.artsignenergy.com/ who's been on Alibaba for 9 years and have had excellent communications throughout.
My contact person through Alibaba has been Celine: celine@artsign.net.cn
She's been great in responding to all questions, supplying updates and changes to the installation when we decided to have more separate ground mounts for our arrays. Additionally we've been supplied with drawings and schematics of our particular setup, along with all parts are manufactured to our specs. Something no EU supplier did.
Their prices, including shipping to Denmark for the whole package is about the same price as the cheapest vendor in Denmark - for the roof mount alone. Suffice to say, a good chunk of money to be saved, even with import taxes and hiring a company to take delivery in the nearest port and deliver to the installation address. It's nearly half the price of the cheapest competitor I could find in Europe - and that's even with having used my own company to get into wholeseller companies to get the best prices.
If you decide to go this route for yourself, make sure that you are aware that you need a freight forwarder to handle the shipment when it arrives from China, handle taxes and deliver to your doorstep - this is not included in the service provided by Art Sign Energy. For me I used a company in Denmark called
fairplay-shipping.dk which added a few hundred USD to the price, your experience may vary.
For any danes listening in, I spoke to Ferhan who was quick and competent in his answers: fs@fairplay-shipping.dk
And for anyone doing this, the HS code is 8302490099
In summary, I received better customer service, faster response time, custom work to my specific case, along with drawings and schematics that can be used in application for municipal approval AND everything was cheaper. If everything turns out like I am hoping, I will have saved about a month salary for an adult in Denmark along with having got a better solution overall, the only negative being shipping time, but not much can be done here.
I will update this once I received my mounts.
P.S. If you decide to reach out to Celine, make sure to let her know I sent you guys, I think she'll appreciate that. Full disclosure, I am getting no kickback or anything from doing this, just here sharing my honest opinion.
Update 27th of July:
Warning, I've just been served with an additional 651USD surcharge(effectively doubling my shipping costs from Artsign's original quote) for co-loading by Artsign's forwarder.
Make sure if you go through with this that your importer handles all the transport, all the way from the factory, then there shouldn't be an issue like this.
I've reached out to Artsign to ask why this was never mentioned in our communications.
Update 29th of July:
The 651USD charge was credited and I was issued another 761USD charge... Artsign has reached out to the co-loader and the charge is correct and needs to be paid by me. They apologize for not informing me of this and offers a 1% discount on my next purchase.
So if you go this route, make sure that your importer handles the full freight, from factory to your doorstep, then these extra charges can be avoided.
Update 1st of September:
Everything arrived in good order, no shipping damages and everything was there.
Update 11th of October:
Everything is installed now and I am very pleased with the quality of the gear.
As part of my journey for selfsustainability I am leaving no stone unturned and today I wanted to share a bit about my experiences looking at mounting equipment for my upcoming 108 panel array, which is part roof mounted with 44 panels and ground mounted with 64 panels.
I've previously asked for recommendations for an inverter for my setup, but today I am here to give back.
Note: before going any further, caveat: I have not received the goods yet, this is merely my experience up until now.
I am located in Denmark, where solar is a very hot topic right now and I feel as a consequence of that, vendors have dialed prices up just a few notches. I've contacted about 30 different vendors both in DK and abroad and have settled on the supplier https://www.artsignenergy.com/ who's been on Alibaba for 9 years and have had excellent communications throughout.
My contact person through Alibaba has been Celine: celine@artsign.net.cn
She's been great in responding to all questions, supplying updates and changes to the installation when we decided to have more separate ground mounts for our arrays. Additionally we've been supplied with drawings and schematics of our particular setup, along with all parts are manufactured to our specs. Something no EU supplier did.
Their prices, including shipping to Denmark for the whole package is about the same price as the cheapest vendor in Denmark - for the roof mount alone. Suffice to say, a good chunk of money to be saved, even with import taxes and hiring a company to take delivery in the nearest port and deliver to the installation address. It's nearly half the price of the cheapest competitor I could find in Europe - and that's even with having used my own company to get into wholeseller companies to get the best prices.
If you decide to go this route for yourself, make sure that you are aware that you need a freight forwarder to handle the shipment when it arrives from China, handle taxes and deliver to your doorstep - this is not included in the service provided by Art Sign Energy. For me I used a company in Denmark called
fairplay-shipping.dk which added a few hundred USD to the price, your experience may vary.
For any danes listening in, I spoke to Ferhan who was quick and competent in his answers: fs@fairplay-shipping.dk
And for anyone doing this, the HS code is 8302490099
In summary, I received better customer service, faster response time, custom work to my specific case, along with drawings and schematics that can be used in application for municipal approval AND everything was cheaper. If everything turns out like I am hoping, I will have saved about a month salary for an adult in Denmark along with having got a better solution overall, the only negative being shipping time, but not much can be done here.
I will update this once I received my mounts.
P.S. If you decide to reach out to Celine, make sure to let her know I sent you guys, I think she'll appreciate that. Full disclosure, I am getting no kickback or anything from doing this, just here sharing my honest opinion.
Update 27th of July:
Warning, I've just been served with an additional 651USD surcharge(effectively doubling my shipping costs from Artsign's original quote) for co-loading by Artsign's forwarder.
Make sure if you go through with this that your importer handles all the transport, all the way from the factory, then there shouldn't be an issue like this.
I've reached out to Artsign to ask why this was never mentioned in our communications.
Update 29th of July:
The 651USD charge was credited and I was issued another 761USD charge... Artsign has reached out to the co-loader and the charge is correct and needs to be paid by me. They apologize for not informing me of this and offers a 1% discount on my next purchase.
So if you go this route, make sure that your importer handles the full freight, from factory to your doorstep, then these extra charges can be avoided.
Update 1st of September:
Everything arrived in good order, no shipping damages and everything was there.
Update 11th of October:
Everything is installed now and I am very pleased with the quality of the gear.
Last edited:
Quite the journey, but at least the freight is very cheap compared to airfreight.
