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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.solarabcs.org/permitting">www.solarabcs.org/permitting</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Check it out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
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re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Nick
Soleil<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, June 15, 2010 5:01 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> RE-wrenches<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] electrical permit requirements<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hi Jeff:<br>
My standard permit docs are comprehensive, but do not
include documentation regarding string sizing, thank goodness. A permit
technician/ plan reviewer should not be overseeing string sizing. <b>You
should be thankful that the permit fees are so low, because that is the best
thing a jurisdiction could do to support PV! </b><br>
Any fly-by-night, incompetent installer can check string
sizing on the inverter manu's web site. I would suspect that, regardless
of the plan review process, the less experienced installers will still be
accountable to the inspector and their customer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Nick Soleil<br>
Project Manager<br>
Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions, LLC<br>
PO Box 657<br>
Petaluma, CA 94953<br>
Cell: 707-321-2937<br>
Office: 707-789-9537<br>
Fax: 707-769-9037<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> William Miller <william@millersolar.com><br>
<b>To:</b> jryago@netscape.com; RE-wrenches
<re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tue, June 15, 2010 3:43:38 PM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] electrical permit requirements<br>
</span><br>
Jeff:<br>
<br>
Good point made here. We too became concerned about lax enforcement some
years ago. We started inviting ourselves to the Building Inspector trade
group meetings. We submitted a permit application check list to the local
jurisdictions. It sat on desks for a while, but eventually the lead plan
checker was asked to make a presentation to the trade group and the handiest
document was our check list. It became adopted.<br>
<br>
Bill Brooks has worked on this issue and has resources.<br>
<br>
I suggest you start a dialog and then be quick and thorough on the follow up
and you can have a positive influence.<br>
<br>
William Miller<br>
<br>
<br>
At 03:12 PM 6/15/2010, Jeff Yago wrote:<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Well, this should start up a fire storm. <br>
<br>
I will not mention the county or state as we do work in many other areas, but
today I stopped by a county building permit office to apply for a permit to
install a grid-tie solar system that includes battery backup and generator,
which we are adding to an existing very high end home. I will also add
this is a very well populated and modern city where the county offices are located.<br>
<br>
I walked in with my permit application which included the permit form, a CAD
drawing of the solar system wiring showing all dis-connects, wire sizes,
conduit sizes and connections to the existing home wiring system. We also
included a spreadsheet form we have that shows all the calculations for the
solar array to inverter wiring and inverter string sizing including high and
low temperature and conduit adjusted voltage and currents from the array based
on the record temperatures for that location. We also include a cut sheet
for the modules and the inverter(s) which show they have all the required code,
IEEE, NEC and other labeling requirements. Just to be complete, we also
include an analysis printout from the inverter manufacturer showing the correct
match-up of number of modules, number of strings, and estimated yearly
performance.<br>
<br>
The clerk looked at this stack of documentation, then returned it all to me and
asked for the $30 permit fee. She said there is no plan review for
anything like this unless its a commercial electrical project.<br>
<br>
I guess with all the stories of really bad experiences of others on this list
with inspectors not knowing what they are looking for and stupid permit rules I
should be pleased this went so smoothly.<br>
<br>
However, I fear this is the kind of lax enforcement that will allow my
competition to keep under-pricing me as they can get away with installing cheap
products and not taking into account hight and low temperature effect on
modules , length of wire run on voltage drop, and string sizing on the
selection of wire, conduit, dis-connects, fuses, and inverters.<br>
<br>
I also fear this is an accident waiting to happen that will give us all
installing solar in this county a black eye. So, do I have this
discussion with the inspection office as I plan to do, or is this a fight for
another day.<br>
<br>
Jeff Yago<br>
DTI Solar<o:p></o:p></p>
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