seabuoy
New Member
Here's the TLDR: Louisiana has a law that any solar power system over $10,000 has to be installed by a licensed solar contractor. Contractors are expensive and I've got a lot of skills of my own. I want to build a very upgradable, starter system with 6kw of solar, that new EG4 6kw split phase hybrid inverter, and a single EG4 LL battery. I should be able to do that along with an Iron Ridge rack and still have some additional money for an electrician to do some final hookups etc and be under $10k.
I'll use this as a back up (we already have a generator transfer switch installed) and maybe add more batteries after this first phase has signed off and inspected permits. Later, I'll upgrade the inverter, add more panels, add more batteries, etc. Basically, building the system $10k at a time to stay within constraints but eventually get up to the 14-16kw system with 60kwh of batteries that'll let me survive the days of downtime a hurricane can cause.
Here's a bit more information for those interested:
I live in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, right outside of New Orleans. We just built our house and moved in back in March. After dealing with them for the build, I know our local permit office can be fairly strict. I called them to see how much of a solar system I can do myself versus what I need a licensed electrician, etc. I was at first told I can't do anything, even the rack install, myself. I need to have a set of engineered plans put together to prove it will handle wind loads and won't collapse my roof. "Easy enough", I told the guy there's plenty of websites out there that will do that work and, since I just built the house, I have plans they can work from. He said even with that, the state says you can't do the work yourself.
So I went to the state laws and, sure enough, there's a law that says any solar job over $10,000 has to be done by a licensed solar installer. That's different than what my local inspector was telling me. Since I eventually want a 12kw or bigger system, there's no way I'm going to be able to do this in one shot. This means I need to stay under $10k for each "upgrade" I do to the system. Even at that, I don't know if they will come back and say I can't upgrade the system because the entire system will be more than $10k. It's a gamble but I really want to get the ball rolling on *something*.
Being a state heavily invested in fossil fuels, they aren't exactly "friendly" to solar. Sure, folks have it, but the regulations don't make it cheap or easy.
I'm looking for any advice to get me where I want to go before I head down a path that could be impossible or really expensive to come back from.
I'll use this as a back up (we already have a generator transfer switch installed) and maybe add more batteries after this first phase has signed off and inspected permits. Later, I'll upgrade the inverter, add more panels, add more batteries, etc. Basically, building the system $10k at a time to stay within constraints but eventually get up to the 14-16kw system with 60kwh of batteries that'll let me survive the days of downtime a hurricane can cause.
Here's a bit more information for those interested:
I live in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, right outside of New Orleans. We just built our house and moved in back in March. After dealing with them for the build, I know our local permit office can be fairly strict. I called them to see how much of a solar system I can do myself versus what I need a licensed electrician, etc. I was at first told I can't do anything, even the rack install, myself. I need to have a set of engineered plans put together to prove it will handle wind loads and won't collapse my roof. "Easy enough", I told the guy there's plenty of websites out there that will do that work and, since I just built the house, I have plans they can work from. He said even with that, the state says you can't do the work yourself.
So I went to the state laws and, sure enough, there's a law that says any solar job over $10,000 has to be done by a licensed solar installer. That's different than what my local inspector was telling me. Since I eventually want a 12kw or bigger system, there's no way I'm going to be able to do this in one shot. This means I need to stay under $10k for each "upgrade" I do to the system. Even at that, I don't know if they will come back and say I can't upgrade the system because the entire system will be more than $10k. It's a gamble but I really want to get the ball rolling on *something*.
Being a state heavily invested in fossil fuels, they aren't exactly "friendly" to solar. Sure, folks have it, but the regulations don't make it cheap or easy.
I'm looking for any advice to get me where I want to go before I head down a path that could be impossible or really expensive to come back from.
