[RE-wrenches] building permits for PV

[David Brearley]

We¹re just about the opposite here for residential installations....

For residential projects, off the shelf, flush mounted racking systems
require no building/structural permit. Ground mount and pole mounts do
require PE certification. Also flat roof racking and racks off the plane of
the roof require PE certification. No building permit is required and no
building inspector visits the site...the inspector for the solar rebate
program, an electrical inspector, just verifies that a PE was consulted and
that‹as best he can tell‹the structural system was installed as specified by
the engineer.

All commercial PV projects within the same jurisdiction require both
electrical and building permits w/ PE certifications and plan review and
inspections. These also require a fire inspection.


On 12/9/08 9:20 AM, "Kirpal Khalsa" <solarworks at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Dana......we are also required to pull building/structural permits for our
> flush roof mount PV systems.....typically they require an engineer to sign off
> on our installation technique and also on the capability of the trusses or the
> rafters to handle that loads and installation technique....they don't come and
> inspect until the system is complete so long as they approve our plan up
> front.....that would be a real hassle if they made us stop between racking and
> panel installing for an inspection.....i can see the day where they move to
> that though........for pole mounted or ground mounted installs no
> building/structural permit has been required up until now......
> cheers,
> Kirpal
> Renewable Energy Systems
> NABCEP Certified PV Installer
> 
> On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 2:45 PM, Dana Brandt <dana at ecotechenergy.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> Until recently, we've only been required to have an electrical permit for
>> flush-mounted PV systems. The city has now decided to require building
>> permits for all PV systems and wants to come out and inspect our L-feet
>> attachments and rails before the modules can go up. This seems crazy to me.
>> What are other jurisdictions requiring? I'd love some information I can take
>> to the city showing that other jurisdictions aren't requiring this type of
>> process.
>> 
>> Thanks a lot,
>> 
>> Dana

David Brearley, Technical Editor
SolarPro magazine 
NABCEP Certified PV Installer 
david.brearley at solarprofessional.com
Direct: 541.261.6545
Fax:  541.512.0343

Visit our Web site at solarprofessional.com

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