solar panels on the house

[patb]

I’m looking to get some Solar PV installed, the local coop is doing a
bulk buy so the prices should be good, and the local utility is
cooperative.

Now, here comes the catch, my hosue is old, and has a 60Amp service drop.

#4 Copper wire.

The way i view it, i the service drop doesn’t care if i pull power in or
send power out, as long as i don’t overload it past 80% (48 Amps) of continous flow, it should be fine.

However, the city appears to say that i can only load 20% of the service drop
or 12 Amps.

Naturally finding a 12 amp breaker is a pain it means i need to get a 10 Amp breaker and that limits me to 240*10 or 2400 Watts up on the roof.

I was really hoping for closer to 3500 Watts, but, that’s the story i’m at right now.

So what do you folks think?

Is the city wrong here?

[Hobie]

You need a larger amperage panel (>=125amp). The recontact your utility. Tell them the solar is part of a larger remodel where as you will be upgrading the electric in the home including a larger panel. They will pull new cable up to the meter at no charge.

[CA renter]

[quote=Hobie]You need a larger amperage panel (>=125amp). The recontact your utility. Tell them the solar is part of a larger remodel where as you will be upgrading the electric in the home including a larger panel. They will pull new cable up to the meter at no charge.[/quote]

Is this related to the solar, or something else? We looked into getting our panel upgraded, but SDG&E would have charged around $10,000 to bring the cable to the meter. We didn’t tell them that we wanted solar at the time, but would that have made a difference?

If you have additional info that would cause them to do it for free, please let me know!

Thanks!

[spdrun]

Speak to an official at the city code enforcement office who has an actual engineering degree or an electrical license, not a degree in marketing, government administration, or early French midget chauvinist literature cut out of a Wheaties box.

Interesting question though — are there any solar systems that can generate x watts output, but limit power sent back to the grid to some fraction of x if the power is not being used locally?

[Hobie]

CAR: Can’t speak about the solar, but maybe it has something to do with selling more electricity. When I did it it was an upgrade to allow 400 amp service when an accessory building was built. About 4 yrs ago and maybe just lucked up and got the right planner at SDGE:)

[CA renter]

[quote=Hobie]CAR: Can’t speak about the solar, but maybe it has something to do with selling more electricity. When I did it it was an upgrade to allow 400 amp service when an accessory building was built. About 4 yrs ago and maybe just lucked up and got the right planner at SDGE:)[/quote]

Nice! 🙂

I’m going to try again. We’re hoping to get solar panels next year.

[njtosd]

[quote=spdrun]Speak to an official at the city code enforcement office who has an actual engineering degree or an electrical license, not a degree in marketing, government administration, or early French midget chauvinist literature cut out of a Wheaties box.

Interesting question though — are there any solar systems that can generate x watts output, but limit power sent back to the grid to some fraction of x if the power is not being used locally?[/quote]

Yes – Kelly Broughton, the former Development Services Director for SD (responsible for zoning enforcement, etc.), Kelly Broughton, was a landscape architect. I’m not sure who replaced him, if anyone, but anything would be an improvement.

[tc]

I just had 34 panels put on my roof. They have been operating for about two weeks now. I was lucky and already had a 400 amp service. But I am all electric so its a no brainer. In 15 years they will have been paid off and I will have 10 years of warranty left. And I am saving about 30% right away.
I also got lucky because SDG&E dropped the neutral to my house and so had to replace and upgrade the cables. As well as reimburse me for all the stuff in my house that stopped working.
To bad my TV was 110-240V I would have loved to upgrade it.
Good luck.

[NotCranky]

CA renter,

Why did SDG&E quote such a high price for the service upgrade?
Was there a long easement through which larger cable would have to be pulled?

I had to pay for a transformer and my costs were still under $2000 to the utility with 100′ feet of cable from the pole to my panel included. When I put in an additional 200Amp panel for the rental , the larger diameter 100′ replacement feeder cable was free.

[treehugger]

tc-how many kw does 34 panels get you and who did you use? I have been researching for the last few months and have found some of the strangest stories from these solar companies.

We have a pool and based on our bills need ~8kw system.

[CA renter]

[quote=Blogstar]CA renter,

Why did SDG&E quote such a high price for the service upgrade?
Was there a long easement through which larger cable would have to be pulled?

I had to pay for a transformer and my costs were still under $2000 to the utility with 100′ feet of cable from the pole to my panel included. When I put in an additional 200Amp panel for the rental , the larger diameter 100′ replacement feeder cable was free.[/quote]

Is yours above-ground? In our case, they only had to trench about 20-30 feet. There’s a sidewalk there, so maybe that was part of the problem? I was surprised about the cost, too. Based on what Hobie has posted, I think we’ll look into it again.

[CA renter]

One more thing about solar panels…

The fairly large difference between pricing tiers made solar a no-brainer for the higher-tier customers. SDG&E has been working on flattening the prices across tiers, and it looks like they are succeeding in their efforts. They’re trying to sell it to the higher-tier customers as making the lower-tiered customers “pay their fair share,” and they are trying to get their high-tier customers to lobby on behalf of their efforts to flatten prices.

IMHO, the reason for SDG&E doing this is because as more and more higher-tier customers move toward solar (again, a no-brainer with the high Tier 4 pricing), SDG&E will be getting lower and lower revenues as they’ll only be left with the lower-tier customers and solar customers who will only need lower-tier energy. IOW, this is designed to offset the benefits to customers who will be going to solar, and it will negatively affect lower-tier customers as well.

It’s AB 327. I’ll post more on this later when I get some more time.

[NotCranky]

[quote=CA renter][quote=Blogstar]CA renter,

Why did SDG&E quote such a high price for the service upgrade?
Was there a long easement through which larger cable would have to be pulled?

I had to pay for a transformer and my costs were still under $2000 to the utility with 100′ feet of cable from the pole to my panel included. When I put in an additional 200Amp panel for the rental , the larger diameter 100′ replacement feeder cable was free.[/quote]

Is yours above-ground? In our case, they only had to trench about 20-30 feet. There’s a sidewalk there, so maybe that was part of the problem? I was surprised about the cost, too. Based on what Hobie has posted, I think we’ll look into it again.[/quote]

Yes we have a pole at the property line. Sounds like the conduit they had underground was too small or else there was direct burial type cable that was too small(I don’t think they do that really…but it’s possible. Could you find a neighbor who had a service panel upgrade done and ask what the process was?

For 3O feet, that sounds really high. Maybe see if you can contract out the trench and any new conduit and have them pull the cable to your service.

[Hobie]

CAR: The trenching is the reason for the $$. City permits, marking out, working around existing utilitys add to cost. If you had underground conduit sized accordingly for the new service, cheaper or free new wire upgrade to the meter, me thinks.

More $$ if drop is from overhead pole supplied by undersized xformer as Blog mentioned.

[moneymaker]

Just called SDG&E today to see if my electrical drop from the pole can handle 200A. Lady said if it couldn’t they would probably replace it at no charge.

[Author]

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