Sorry about the rant, but it is just ridiculous.
Right now trying to deal with Entergy Arkansas for approval to install a grid tied system. Small in the big scheme of things at 5.3 kW. The problem is the paperwork wants a drawing that is not a problem on the face of it, but the guy I talked to on the phone said it has to be in CAD. Buying a Cad program is expensive. Right now if I have to buy a Cad program, even a cheap one is going to add almost 10% to the total cost of my system. Then you go further down into the paperwork and they ask for the installers qualifications/certifications. I have worked in the power industry as an electrical engineer for almost 30 years, prior to that I was an electrician in the military. I never got to be a journeyman and well I never went and tested for my PE either. You would think project oversite of construction of a 180 MW solar farm would be better qualifications than an electrician that may have never worked on a solar system. I thought home owners were allowed to do work on their own home. The last thing is they want a county or city inspector to sign off on it, well considering I live in unincorporated land the city has told me they won't do it and the county doesn't have inspectors. The city actually told me it is up to the energy company to inspect.
Well I have sent an E-mail to their section that deals with this stuff and am hoping some hand drafted drawings and such will be adequate. It isn't complicated, 2 wires from each panel goes to a micro inverter. Each micro inverter takes 2 panels. The output of the micro inverters go to a trunk line with a max of 6 micro inverters per trunk. The trunk line runs down conduit on the side of the building to a cut off switch/breaker. The switch/breaker gets ran to the breaker box and put in on a double pole breaker through the interior wall of the building. The switch/breaker requires an 8' ground rod and if your going to be extra safe you can add a second ground rod 6' away from the first. Yes I calculated all wire sizes and plan on using SOOW for exposed wiring. All PV wire will be well over sized at 10AWG for 50V panels. The power companies like to pretend you have to be someone special to find all the info needed to install these systems, when the reality is you just need to have a couple brain cells that haven't been pickled from years of over indulgence in spirits.
Right now trying to deal with Entergy Arkansas for approval to install a grid tied system. Small in the big scheme of things at 5.3 kW. The problem is the paperwork wants a drawing that is not a problem on the face of it, but the guy I talked to on the phone said it has to be in CAD. Buying a Cad program is expensive. Right now if I have to buy a Cad program, even a cheap one is going to add almost 10% to the total cost of my system. Then you go further down into the paperwork and they ask for the installers qualifications/certifications. I have worked in the power industry as an electrical engineer for almost 30 years, prior to that I was an electrician in the military. I never got to be a journeyman and well I never went and tested for my PE either. You would think project oversite of construction of a 180 MW solar farm would be better qualifications than an electrician that may have never worked on a solar system. I thought home owners were allowed to do work on their own home. The last thing is they want a county or city inspector to sign off on it, well considering I live in unincorporated land the city has told me they won't do it and the county doesn't have inspectors. The city actually told me it is up to the energy company to inspect.
Well I have sent an E-mail to their section that deals with this stuff and am hoping some hand drafted drawings and such will be adequate. It isn't complicated, 2 wires from each panel goes to a micro inverter. Each micro inverter takes 2 panels. The output of the micro inverters go to a trunk line with a max of 6 micro inverters per trunk. The trunk line runs down conduit on the side of the building to a cut off switch/breaker. The switch/breaker gets ran to the breaker box and put in on a double pole breaker through the interior wall of the building. The switch/breaker requires an 8' ground rod and if your going to be extra safe you can add a second ground rod 6' away from the first. Yes I calculated all wire sizes and plan on using SOOW for exposed wiring. All PV wire will be well over sized at 10AWG for 50V panels. The power companies like to pretend you have to be someone special to find all the info needed to install these systems, when the reality is you just need to have a couple brain cells that haven't been pickled from years of over indulgence in spirits.
