Thursday, May 12, 2011

Kevin's Grid-Tied, DIY, Micro-Inverter PV System

In a five part blog Kevin goes through the whole process of planning, permitting, getting approvals, and installing a 3.84 KW grid-tie PV system.

3.84 KW grid-tie PV array on roof
After working out what size system made sense, and investigating the local permitting, approval process and net metering arrangement,  Kevin selected a kit that included the PV modules, micro inverters, roof mounting racks, and many of the rest of the parts needed to do the system..

Kevin's system is a roof mount, and he provides some good pictures and description on doing the roof mount and installing the modules and micro-inverters on the mount rails.
Roof mounting rack with micro-inverters installed.

Getting the large, awkward, and expensive PV modules up on the roof deserves some thought -- Kevin came up with a very nice track and sled arrangement to get the modules up on the roof.
Sled to get PV modules on roof.


The rest of the installation covers plugging in the PV modules, adding the AC disconnect and placards, and getting the new net meter installed.

Kevin signed up for the Enphase realtime online tracking for the system, so he (or you) can see how its doing at any given time online right here...


For all the details and pictures on Kevin's system go here to Kevin's blog...

For details on other PV system installation (on and off grid) go here...

With the addition of Kevin's system to the my system and Guy's system, there are now three very detailed descriptions of installing grid-tied, micro-inverter systems at the link just above.
There will also be an article on my system in the next issue of Mother Earth News.

Gary