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Nice. Making progress! I’m hoping Duke Energy stops screwing around and approves my design. Finally got the word, after I had to explain to them how things worked, that the design was “ok”. They really like asking questions to drag things out. Yesterday we had a peak production day or 55.2kWh. I was able to dump more into our EV, so I’m interested to see what I can produce when it’s full speed all the time.
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Aug 3, 2023 03:14
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1) Energy audit (gives you the list of eligible refits) 2) Design a system that will qualify 3) Apply to Hydro one for a net metering agreement 4) Get rejected for capacity constraints 5) Wait two months and apply again 6) Get an offer to connect from Hydro One with no change in the application or the capacity of the system 7) Apply for a municipal building permit 8) Hire a structural engineer to evaluate your roof in order to obtain a building permit 9) File a notice with the ESA for an electrical inspection 10) Install the solar power system <——— finally at this step 11) ESA electrical inspection 12) Post install energy audit 13) $$$$ from the federal government 14) Optional get a 10 year interest free loan from the federal government for the install. Construction has actually started and 95% of the materials are on site. 12 x Longi 450 watt panels and associated Enphase micro inverters have arrived.  The first part of the installation is the electrical conduit to carry the generated power from the roof to the main service panel via an accessible disconnect near the meter base. I did this all with 3/4” PVC conduit. The disconnect is a 60 A non fusible unit. The feed terminates in the main panel in a 40 A double pile breaker. There is an additional double pole 15 A circuit for the Enphase Envoy which controls and monitors the array.   Next up will be installing the roof penetration and finishing the conduit in the garage attic. For this I’ll have to get my scaffolding built and a fall arrest anchor installed. helno fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Aug 16, 2023 |
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Aug 16, 2023 12:27
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With the majority of the indoor work done it is time to get started on the roof. My scaffold planks were last inspected in '92 and my fall arrest gear circa 2010 so off to a good start safety wise.  First things first is the roof penetration/combiner box. This is the only hole in the roof. It connects to the conduit that was run in the garage to the disconnect and will be wired with #8. It contains two sets of fuses to split the feed into two 20A circuits for the arrays. It has cable glands designed for the Enphase Q cable as well as one for the #6 ground that will tie everything together.   The layout is done for the first array that will cover the soladeck. The mounting system is by kinetic solar and uses feet attached via two lag screws and covered with a stamped steel cover to prevent leaks. Kinetic requires one of these every 48" the structural engineer wants them on every truss.   
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Aug 20, 2023 23:02
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Progress! That is awesome, I love seeing install photos, looks like things are going well (minus the fall gear haha)! Duke Energy is in the last steps with me to install my net meter, looks like everything was approved.
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Aug 21, 2023 16:11
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Progress! That is awesome, I love seeing install photos, looks like things are going well (minus the fall gear haha)! Hopefully you get thing up and running soon. The roof work is where it really starts to look like you are actually doing something. I installed the first of four sets of rails today.  I also finished the conduit and measured it for the cable. Got the cable ordered so it can be pulled in tomorrow.
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Aug 21, 2023 21:10
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helno posted:Hopefully you get thing up and running soon. I have actually been running. My inverter has a zero export option and that's what I have been using. Just waiting on the ability to sell excess  Your install is looking good!
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Aug 22, 2023 16:45
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PTO came today. I’m fully operational. On a sad note, our dog Coco is gone. All in all, a sad day.
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Aug 23, 2023 22:06
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mAlfunkti0n posted:PTO came today. I’m fully operational. Sorry about your dog. I lost mine in the spring. Got all of the 240 volt wiring done. #8 wire from the panel to the disconnect and up to the soladeck on the roof. #6 ground wire as well. Enphase envoy is installed with required CT's. Looks like rain for the next few days. Was hoping to get the racking done before the weekend so I can have some friends come over to install the panels.
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Aug 24, 2023 03:12
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Weekend plans didn't go quite as expected. I got all the wire pulled in and terminated. The Envoy is installed with it's three CT's for production and consumption monitoring. Racking is all installed. Along with the micro inverters and associated wiring.       The Q-cable was easy enough to work with. It is just two conductor #12 THHN with no ground in a jacket designed for outdoor use. The ends are terminated with a simple cap that holds the ends of the conductors separate. The plan was to install panels yesterday but I discovered that I had forgotten to order some additional clamps. The Kinetic rack sets I bought are setup for a 1x6 array and with me using them in a 2x3 array I needed additional end clamps. I knew this but with Hydro ones two month delay I forgot to order them when it came time to buy. Got them ordered and plan is to put them up this weekend. After that the next step is an ESA inspection and then permission to operate from Hydro One.
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Aug 29, 2023 22:18
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I signed up for EnergySage to get some bid and was flooded with seemingly fake companies trying to get money from me right away. Is there a service that's good for getting the process going? I'm not terribly handy and know gently caress-all about electricity work, so I need to hire people to do it.
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Aug 31, 2023 00:32
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Inzombiac posted:Is there a service that's good for getting the process going? I'm not terribly handy and know gently caress-all about electricity work, so I need to hire people to do it. Probably your best bet is to find someone local who has panels and ask who they used. All the weird scammy companies and lovely reviews are why I opted for DIY.
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Aug 31, 2023 11:03
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It took 4 months, but the state finally reviewed my application so I can now start getting credits from them (I've been on net-metering with the utility for most of that time)
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Aug 31, 2023 15:37
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Panels are installed. Didn't take as long as I expected but we got a system going and they went on easy. Wont run them unless I have a car charging to keep it from exporting.   
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Sep 3, 2023 02:09
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helno posted:Panels are installed. Didn't take as long as I expected but we got a system going and they went on easy. If you've got installer access there's apparently a no-export grid profile you can use. It works by keeping the production slightly below what consumption is.
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Sep 4, 2023 00:29
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devicenull posted:If you've got installer access there's apparently a no-export grid profile you can use. It works by keeping the production slightly below what consumption is. This is actually one spot that enphase s a bit lovely. You have to use grid profiles produced by them for the area you are in. It’s a bit stupid because I can’t even view what the current settings are to ensure that it matches what I need but I can enable it!
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Sep 4, 2023 13:21
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helno posted:Panels are installed. Didn't take as long as I expected but we got a system going and they went on easy. devicenull posted:If you've got installer access there's apparently a no-export grid profile you can use. It works by keeping the production slightly below what consumption is. I'm not sure I understand this. I'm assuming "exporting" means feeding power back into the grid. Why would you not want to do this, to the extent of not using your solar panels unless you are going full production usage outweighing always having them on? I thought typically the power companies either paid you some reduced rate for extra power, or at minimum just gave you nothing for it or didn't accept it in the first place. Am I to understand they are charging you for "uploading" power back in the grid? Or is this just a "giving the man the finger" move?
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Sep 4, 2023 16:57
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Twenty Four posted:I'm not sure I understand this. I'm assuming "exporting" means feeding power back into the grid. Why would you not want to do this, to the extent of not using your solar panels unless you are going full production usage outweighing always having them on? I thought typically the power companies either paid you some reduced rate for extra power, or at minimum just gave you nothing for it or didn't accept it in the first place. Am I to understand they are charging you for "uploading" power back in the grid? Or is this just a "giving the man the finger" move? The goal is to export to the grid. However to do this you need everything inspected and have your meter switched to bidirectional mode and have permission to operate. The only real way the power company can tell you are doing this before getting permission is if you start exporting power. So I don’t turn it on when I know my usage will be more than production. Hopefully I can get the electrical inspection Wednesday.
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Sep 4, 2023 18:47
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helno posted:The goal is to export to the grid. That all makes sense I guess, but before you posted that you won't run the panels unless you have a car charging to keep it from exporting, which sounds like the opposite of that to me, especially with what the other poster posted about running a "no export profile". Something like that sounds weird, but if you were trying to charge up batteries or whatever, that seems like it could be a good reason for it. I think what I originally assumed was more or less correct backed by that last post, that yes, in general people want to sell their excess back if possible. I don't have or really plan on getting solar so it's not a big deal for me, I was just confused. Thanks for the reply!
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Sep 5, 2023 01:40
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1) Energy audit (gives you the list of eligible refits) 2) Design a system that will qualify 3) Apply to Hydro one for a net metering agreement 4) Get rejected for capacity constraints 5) Wait two months and apply again 6) Get an offer to connect from Hydro One with no change in the application or the capacity of the system 7) Apply for a municipal building permit 8) Hire a structural engineer to evaluate your roof in order to obtain a building permit 9) File a notice with the ESA for an electrical inspection 10) Install the solar power system 11) ESA electrical inspection 12) Post install energy audit <——— You are here 13) $$$$ from the federal government 14) Optional get a 10 year interest free loan from the federal government for the install. Had my ESA electrical inspection today. The inspector had never seen a residential microinverter installation before but had no issues. Only question was about the requirements for rodent protection that I understood to be not required due to the low DC voltage and ground fault protection built into the inverters. The municipality is doing an inspection tomorrow. Not really sure what they are actually going to do other than say that yes there are panels on the roof now. Edit: I waited around all morning and they literally took a picture of my house from the road. Hydro one just has to get the connection report from the ESA and then I can turn this system on. helno fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Sep 8, 2023 |
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Sep 6, 2023 14:39
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Oh, sorry I get it now, you're trying to secretly run your solar panels before having them inspected without the power company being alerted to you doing so by them noticing you are exporting power. Makes sense. For the record, I don't really have any judgement because I don't know how good or bad of an idea that is, so to me it's "that's probably fine, I'm not worried about it." I just didn't understand why you would want to only run your panels if you were using more than you were bringing in and make sure you are exporting nothing until I just put two and two together.
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Sep 6, 2023 22:27
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1) Energy audit (gives you the list of eligible refits) 2) Design a system that will qualify 3) Apply to Hydro one for a net metering agreement 4) Get rejected for capacity constraints 5) Wait two months and apply again 6) Get an offer to connect from Hydro One with no change in the application or the capacity of the system 7) Apply for a municipal building permit 8) Hire a structural engineer to evaluate your roof in order to obtain a building permit 9) File a notice with the ESA for an electrical inspection 10) Install the solar power system 11) ESA electrical inspection 11b) Hydro One meter swap (permission to operate) <——— You are here. 12) Post install energy audit 13) $$$$ from the federal government 14) Optional get a 10 year interest free loan from the federal government for the install. So it turns out that the ESA never sent in the required documentation to Hydro One. So that took a few phone calls and additional waiting. Hydro One actually does swap out the meter for this even though they are functionally identical. This is scheduled to occur next Wednesday. The interest free loan has been approved after a bit of debate with the loan officer. Apparently the 1.2% of my income that came from a tiny small business and appears on my tax returns is a huge discrepancy that needed to be explained in great detail. They also don't seem to understand what an estimate is, I had what turned out to be a very accurate accounting of what I was going to do and was told that I needed screenshots of the exact items I was about to purchase. Since by the time this was occurring I had actually purchased everything I sent the guy a PDF with all of the receipts, I think the smallest amount was $3.36 for some random PVC fitting. So the loan is ready to go for the full amount. In order to get the grant and loan I need a post refit energy audit. This is mostly ceremonial in this case as a blower door test isn't going to show gently caress all difference with our without solar panels on the roof. But this is what it takes to get cash out of the federal government.
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Sep 24, 2023 19:21
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1) Energy audit (gives you the list of eligible refits) 2) Design a system that will qualify 3) Apply to Hydro one for a net metering agreement 4) Get rejected for capacity constraints 5) Wait two months and apply again 6) Get an offer to connect from Hydro One with no change in the application or the capacity of the system 7) Apply for a municipal building permit 8) Hire a structural engineer to evaluate your roof in order to obtain a building permit 9) File a notice with the ESA for an electrical inspection 10) Install the solar power system 11) ESA electrical inspection 11b) Hydro One meter swap (permission to operate) 12) Post install energy audit 13) Optional get a 10 year interest free loan from the federal government for the install. <——— You are here. 14) $$$$ from the federal government Just a minor update. System has been operating well and producing what I expected. It does not produce much of anything when covered in snow but it does cause an avalanche when the sun shines on it after a heavy snowfall. The post install audit was a joke. Basically had to show my receipts and do another blower door test which of course was basically identical. After that another company sends in the paperwork to the federal government. I was able to get the %100 loan for the work on Friday so that will go into an investment fund to hurry up the payback time on the system. Despite showing all my receipts to the energy audit person as well as during the loan application I had to send them in again to get the loan disbursed after the report from the auditor had been approved. No here is one final gently caress you from the Ontario government. They contribute zero to this process because it is funded and managed at the federal level. If I lived anywhere else I would already have the $5500 grant sitting in my bank account. What the Ontario government did was put Enbridge (A natural gas company) in charge of disbursing these funds and apparently they take 20 to 26 weeks to cut you a check. Depending on how accurate that is it will be well over a year from when I first got an energy audit to the time I get my grant money. I did promise a total cost of doing this and in the end the big number was $14890 including tax. ~$3000 of that went to fees such as the two energy audits, the structural engineers report, ESA inspection, Hydro one meter swap, and the municipal building permit. The rest went towards hardware. Total time spent actually working on the roof was around 3 days. Two of those on my own and the final short day with two friends installing the actual panels. When I was getting quotes to have someone do the entire install they wanted around $5-9k to do the install so considering I paid my friends with pizza and beer it was a significant discount. The one thing I wish I had done was fought harder with Hydro One to get the full 9.7 kw my system supports. The extra cost would have been only a few $k more and I could have rolled that into the loan. The deal with the loan is you get one and that is it. I can add on easily but it would have been nice to just have done it right away, now I will have to awkwardly move around the existing panels if I can convince them to let me do it.
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Dec 3, 2023 20:40
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I wanted to somewhat revive this thread with some data. We have been running since the later portion of June 2023, with the ability to grid sell in August. Within the past two months I bought additional panels, 7kW of Jinko 535W bifacial to be mounted on the EG4 Brightmount ground system. This should bring my Solark 15K closer to its maximum input. I have been running in a temporary config 7 of the 15 panels (it was supposed to be 16 panels, but one came completely destroyed). Here are some fun stats from Home Assistant. I am hoping the additional 7kW will drive our energy bill down to as close to zero as allowed. I do plan to add additional battery capacity next year after I build my pole building and relocate everything into it.   
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Apr 2, 2024 18:57
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I had solar installed last year. It went off without a hitch aside from the absolute mountain of paperwork involved with it. There was more paperwork to buy and install solar than there was for buying the house.
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Apr 2, 2024 20:38
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goatse guy posted:I had solar installed last year. It went off without a hitch aside from the absolute mountain of paperwork involved with it. There was more paperwork to buy and install solar than there was for buying the house. The irony about mine is due to my property type .. I needed, literally, no permits.
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Apr 2, 2024 21:45
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Is the mountain of paperwork related to selling power back to the utility company? Because simply installing solar panels in my neck of the woods is just a regular old permit.
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Apr 3, 2024 22:01
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I've just crossed over a year of solar, and results were pretty good: Ending up making around $90/mo from the system in terms of SRECS, and we don't have a power bill for most of the year.
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Apr 4, 2024 01:07
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Nitrox posted:Is the mountain of paperwork related to selling power back to the utility company? Because simply installing solar panels in my neck of the woods is just a regular old permit. It can depending on where you are, but in a lot of areas it's permitting and inspections. devicenull posted:I've just crossed over a year of solar, and results were pretty good: This is awesome! What size array do you have installed?
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Apr 5, 2024 18:32
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Nitrox posted:Is the mountain of paperwork related to selling power back to the utility company? Because simply installing solar panels in my neck of the woods is just a regular old permit. Proposals, financing, invoices, permits, contracts, and of course selling the power back to the utility company. I live in a state that offers very low interest loans for home improvement projects and there were several hoops to jump through in order to obtain financing through them. There were also roof repairs needed before the project could happen so that added some paperwork onto the mountain as well.
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Apr 5, 2024 20:46
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If anyone is looking, EG4 recently released a new battery that needs to be concealed from weather but still includes a battery heater. 14.3kWh pack for $3500, cheaper than the server rack batteries. https://eg4electronics.com/categories/batteries/eg4-wallmount-indoor-280ah-lithium-battery I wish I had these as an option when I first started, would be a huge plus having temperature control built in.
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Apr 12, 2024 17:25
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Randomly browsing YouTube and came across this shipping container/solar generation station video. Really slick, capable of very high output. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG7ZeaTtP-w
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Apr 17, 2024 16:48
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mAlfunkti0n posted:It can depending on where you are, but in a lot of areas it's permitting and inspections. 10.8 kW, 27 panels w/ IQ8+ inverters. We're getting $12k back from the feds, assuming a $90 monthly credit and around $110 monthly in electrical bills puts us at a 13 year payback. Would have been probably ~9yrs if we hadn't had a battery, associated hardware, and a garage subpanel/car charger installed too.
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Apr 18, 2024 00:32
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devicenull posted:10.8 kW, 27 panels w/ IQ8+ inverters. Nice! That is a great sized array. I hope to be able to use some of the Enphase stuff down the road so I can get a feel of how it all works. IMO, you did the right thing with batteries. Obviously not sure how the utility is where you are, but everything around here is above ground and we have had more outages lately due to trees. Having the batteries just means we keep on going. With that and a cellular internet for backup now I can WFH for quite some time even if the power and internet is down.
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Apr 18, 2024 14:21
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Nice! That is a great sized array. I hope to be able to use some of the Enphase stuff down the road so I can get a feel of how it all works. IMO, you did the right thing with batteries. Obviously not sure how the utility is where you are, but everything around here is above ground and we have had more outages lately due to trees. Having the batteries just means we keep on going. With that and a cellular internet for backup now I can WFH for quite some time even if the power and internet is down. It's pretty stable around here, we're at most a half mile from the fire station so I'm sure that helps. We only went with a single 3.3kw battery, the reasoning there is our installer suggested the "sunlight backup" thing where you do an install w/o a battery is purely marketing wankery. The battery is there to act as a buffer... I have no idea how long it would last in an outage, but at least we'd have reliable power during the day (assuming it's sunny)
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Apr 19, 2024 02:58
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devicenull posted:It's pretty stable around here, we're at most a half mile from the fire station so I'm sure that helps. We only went with a single 3.3kw battery, the reasoning there is our installer suggested the "sunlight backup" thing where you do an install w/o a battery is purely marketing wankery. The battery is there to act as a buffer... I have no idea how long it would last in an outage, but at least we'd have reliable power during the day (assuming it's sunny) I never really understood how they could "guarantee" anything with the sunlight backup stuff. I know it really reduced the power of the array, it's a cool thought but just seems like a problem waiting to happen. We originally had no batteries but found the our supply to be unreliable due to random frequency drops, which would cause the inverter to disconnect and we would lose power for that time. They replaced the transformer on the pole that serves our house, it has gotten better but still happens enough to warrant batteries.
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Apr 22, 2024 14:04
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