[RE-wrenches] Old Net Metering

[Ray Walters]

Greetings Esteemed Wrenches;

I just received an interesting call from an owner of a late 1990s 
vintage GTB system here in Colorado.  (Trace SW4048 I'm guessing) The 
tenants had disconnected the grid for almost 2 years and lived in the 
house off grid.  They had also done many scary wiring "upgrades" using 
speaker wire out of the main AC load center.
The tenants are gone, the AC load center was cleaned up, and the owner 
wants to reconnect the GT system, but the utility is not allowing it 
since they were disconnected for 2 years.  I'm still trying to find out 
what the requirements are, but I wanted to ping the list and see what 
experience anyone had, and what requirements might be placed in this 
situation.
It seems to me that this system should be grand fathered in and not be 
required to meet more than 1999 NEC, but I've never dealt with this 
scenario before.  Requiring this to meet 2014 NEC would be insane, and 
even meeting 2008 NEC would be a deal killer, as the old SW inverters 
were not UL 1741 compliant.  (wasn't even around in 1998 I believe)
My plan was to inspect the entire system, retorque connections, perform 
any necessary repairs, and just confirm compliance with NEC 1999.  There 
would be little point, if the utility or AHJ required compliance with a 
newer code though.

Thanks as always for any assistance,

-- 
R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760