[RE-wrenches] Cost of service upgrade vs Solar credits

[frenergy]

William,

             I  recently did a GT with PG&E where they allowed me to 
backfeed 18KW into their 208 /single/ phase (L-L-N). So even though just 
2 hots and a neutral were pulled unto this service panel, no doubt the 
PG&E source (transformer across the street) had 3 phase available....yet 
I was backfeeding just two of those 3 legs when my backfeed got back 
over to their transformer.  This is a PTO'ed, operating system.  Years 
ago I was told they only wanted to see 6KW max out of balance, 
apparently it depends.

             Jerry made a pretty good point about about biting the $20K 
bullet now and get help from the ITC.

Bill

Feather River Solar Electric
Bill Battagin, Owner
4291 Nelson St.
Taylorsville, CA 95983
530.284.7849
CA Lic 874049
www.frenergy.net

On 1/16/2019 1:11 PM, Jerry Shafer wrote:
> William, Wrenches,
> can we assume the utility voltage is 120/208 of so Fronius has some 
> inverters that do that, if it is 277/480 then SMA can do that but 
> neither of them are less then 10k, Enphase does not have a 3 leg 
> inverter just 1/2,2/3/,3/1 leg balance but you can do that with most 
> any single phase inverter.
> We have had several customers that got hit with Xformer upgrade 
> charges at time of PTO which is a real problem. I agree that is you go 
> solar that the bill would be close to zero now that would trigger the 
> 20 k bill to your customer, better off paying it now and getting FTC 
> while you can.
> Jerry
>
> On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 12:30 PM William Miller 
> <william at millersolar.com <mailto:william at millersolar.com>> wrote:
>
>     Friends:
>
>     I am engaged in a rather complicated decision process regarding an
>     AG customer in PG&E territory.  The customer spends a lot of money
>     pumping water and wishes to offset that cost with installation of
>     a grid-tied system.  His two services are decrepit and have to be
>     upgraded.  There was some question if he will be required to
>     upgrade from single phase to three phase given the size of his
>     motor loads.  We received a waiver to allow us to continue with
>     single phase although I am not sure that is the right decision.
>
>     We were also informed that the $20,000 cost to upgrade the single
>     phase feeder to allow bigger services would be waived because of
>     the potential revenue PG&E would earn over time.  There is a
>     review three years out and if the revenue meets projections based
>     on existing loads, the construction credit would remain. If,
>     however, after three years revenue decreased, the credit would be
>     rescinded, requiring the customer to fork over the 20 grand.
>
>     I was told that if we install solar and zero out the annual bill,
>     that reduction in billing would trigger the rescinding of the
>     credit.  I want to check that the utility is interpreting this
>     correctly.  Do any of you esteemed wrenches have any experience in
>     this area?
>
>     Another question:  If we go three phase and I wish to use
>     inverters with two hot leads, I know they will work on three
>     phase, but the back-feed will be imbalanced.  I know we are
>     allowed some amount of imbalance, but I am not sure how much. 
>     Anyone know this answer?
>
>     I am searching for true three phase inverters in the less than
>     10kW range.  This would require a connection to all three phases. 
>     I believe Enphase can do this. Are there any other units you know of?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     William
>
>


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