Let me start off by saying, I'm looking for physical technical issues. Legal issues surrounding the lease and even the power company don't discourage me that much. That said, I absolutely don't want to endanger or live on the edge of safety. If the rule is there for someone's safety, I'll follow it. If it's there to force me to pay more than the value of something, I don't care.
I bought a home in 2019 that has about 8kw of solar on the roof. It was installed by a subcontractor through a program with Lennar homes that didn't leave me any choices. It was done with the construction of the home. Given what I know of wholesale solar equipment, it was a terrible deal. But the lease is still much less expensive than the power would be otherwise so I intend to honor the lease as it's not necessarily hurting me. The system is roof-mounted panels with endphase microinverters that lead to a panel that then feeds into a bi-directional meter.
I'm currently in the process of redoing my backyard and I intend to put a pergola over a patio. I was considering supplementing my solar by treating the pergola as an elevated rack. Since I intend to run power back there anyway I'll just match the amps of the circuit to 120% or more of what I intend to put out as solar. Then feed back to the main panel for the house. This is not where the leased solar feeds so I don't see an issue, for all intents and purposes the two systems will never interact. I'm sure the lease probably has some gobblygook text that monopolizes my residence and doesn't allow me to add another system, but I intend to keep the second system on the down low. If it ever escalates, I'll just remove the system. Again I'll say this isn't my primary concern.
My question is, I've always assumed if you have a proper grid tie inverter you can feed directly into a main panel providing you've specced the wire and components to handle the 120% max of the system. Amps are amps. Under almost all circumstances, I'm pretty sure any power the system produces will get used by the house. I really don't see this system exporting much if at all. A portion of this system will go towards running water and air pumps for a koi pond which are base loads. I just wonder if anyone knows if endphase equipment being based at the meter and never going near the main panel means if I backfeed the main panel the bi directional meter won't read the outgoing flow of power right?
My first post and I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere. Thank you.
I bought a home in 2019 that has about 8kw of solar on the roof. It was installed by a subcontractor through a program with Lennar homes that didn't leave me any choices. It was done with the construction of the home. Given what I know of wholesale solar equipment, it was a terrible deal. But the lease is still much less expensive than the power would be otherwise so I intend to honor the lease as it's not necessarily hurting me. The system is roof-mounted panels with endphase microinverters that lead to a panel that then feeds into a bi-directional meter.
I'm currently in the process of redoing my backyard and I intend to put a pergola over a patio. I was considering supplementing my solar by treating the pergola as an elevated rack. Since I intend to run power back there anyway I'll just match the amps of the circuit to 120% or more of what I intend to put out as solar. Then feed back to the main panel for the house. This is not where the leased solar feeds so I don't see an issue, for all intents and purposes the two systems will never interact. I'm sure the lease probably has some gobblygook text that monopolizes my residence and doesn't allow me to add another system, but I intend to keep the second system on the down low. If it ever escalates, I'll just remove the system. Again I'll say this isn't my primary concern.
My question is, I've always assumed if you have a proper grid tie inverter you can feed directly into a main panel providing you've specced the wire and components to handle the 120% max of the system. Amps are amps. Under almost all circumstances, I'm pretty sure any power the system produces will get used by the house. I really don't see this system exporting much if at all. A portion of this system will go towards running water and air pumps for a koi pond which are base loads. I just wonder if anyone knows if endphase equipment being based at the meter and never going near the main panel means if I backfeed the main panel the bi directional meter won't read the outgoing flow of power right?
My first post and I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere. Thank you.
