Blubat solar kits

With plug & play solar kits becoming ever more popular in Europe, today we want to have a look at Spanish company Blubat, which has been selling solar kits for a while. We have previously discussed other vendors from Spain, such as Leroy Merlin, Solar360 or BricoDepot, to highlight the differences between their products and the ones we sell at Robinsun. Also, not all solar kits are “plug & play”, or self installable. So, how about Blubat and their kits?

Who is Blubat

There isn’t a lot of information available on Blubat, the company operating their site or the people behind it, despite being around since 2019. The company describes itself as an electricity technology company, and offers smart battery management, plug & play solar kits, 100% renewable energy tariffs and consulting services. We’re obviously most interested in Blubat’s plug & play solar kits.

What solar kits does Blubat offer

Blubat offers 1 type of plug & play solar kit, and sells one, two or three units of it. The kits are composed of 550 Wp solar panels. It is not clear if the models used are from Bluesun or Longi, since both brands’ tech sheets are available on their site. We have experience with Longi panels, as we used a different model from Longi in a previous version of our Robinsun Performance plug & play solar kit. The main differences between our panels and the ones Blubat offers are described in the table below.

The comparison shows that Blubat solar panels are much bigger and heavier than the ones we use at Robinsun. We chose smaller, lighter panels for logistical reasons, and because our customer centric approach to our solar kits tries to make our products accessible to everybody. Bigger panels are more complicated to be handled by a single person.

As we’re constantly checking the solar panel market for innovations, the ones used by Blubat are not a very recent model. In that size and weight range the current models on the market produce 565-590 Wp. PERC technology is also being phased out in favor of TOPCon or ABC. N-type cells have replaced P-Type mostly. The result are longer warranty periods, as panels are more durable. That’s why at Robinsun we offer 30 years of production warranty, the longest on the market.

There is also another reason we use smaller and lighter panels. Since our kits are plug & play, or self-installable without the intervention of an installer or electrician, they need to fall within the max output limit of 800 W, the standard in Europe. Blubat’s kits of one panel fall within that category, but fall short of the 800 W output. Their kits of two or three panels are clearly outside of the 800 W limit, and cannot be called “plug & play”. To install them, you need the intervention of an installer, and modify your electric circuit at home.

As for the micro inverter, also here it isn’t clear if Blubat uses Deye or Hoymiles. Both are of 500 W and well proportioned for the 550 Wp solar panel. Like for the solar panels, both tech sheets are to be found on their website. The Deye micro inverter is the same used by Leroy Merlin, and that has been involved in a major scandal in Germany due to non compliance with the local electrical regulations. The manufacturer submitted a compliant device for certification and then shipped a production version that has been found to miss some key safety components. The Hoymiles micro inverter is a model we know very well at Robinsun and have tested repeatedly. We ultimately decided to use Tsun for our plug & play solar kits, as it is the only manufacturer of quality micro inverters that offers direct WiFi connectivity for its micro inverters. This means that you can connect the micro inverter directly to your home’s WiFi and control it with an app, without the additional installation of a smartplug to do so. The direct connectivity increases safety eliminating the need of an extra device (the smartplug) and improves accuracy, reading production data directly from the micro inverter.

Blubat kits come with a mount and all necessary cables to install them, something we really like. Blubat’s mount seems very similar to our 60 degree mount. Kits from other brands often come without these accessories and make installation less easy, safe and quick.

Price wise, Blubat’s kits cost €1.195 incl. VAT and certification, but without transport (that seems to cost an extra €40 in mainland Spain). If you add these costs (€1.195 + €40 = €1.235), and divide them by the max output of 500 W, you get €2,47/W. As a comparison, our Robinsun Performance 800 kit with the equivalent mount costs €999 (VAT and transport incl.) and the comparable certification an extra €129. If you divide the total costs (€999 + €129 = €1.128) by the max output of 800 W, you get €1,41/W, or a whopping 43% cheaper! Also, if you are looking for a true plug & play solar kit that you can install yourself, without installer or electrician, the Performance 800 with 2 solar panels produces significantly more than Blubat’s 500 W kit, and their kit of 2 panels with 1.000 W output is technically beyond the limit that you can self install.

Conclusions

Plug & play solar kits are an excellent way to lower your power bills. Since the investment into a solar kit has to pay back fast and then give you many years of free solar energy, it is important to pick top quality technology with long warranties. Calculate your payback times well. Our Robinsun Performance 800 with 2 panels starts at €799 (VAT and shipment incl.), produces up to 1.600 kWh/year and can pay back in under 2 years.