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Supply side tap location

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  • Supply side tap location

    I was talking to a solar installer yesterday who told me he made his supply side taps in the meter pan.

    Here in NJ the meter pan becomes property of the utility company.

    I have never heard of this type of connection.

    We have either put the taps in the main service panel or installed a wire trough next to the panel board. Any thoughts?

  • #2
    Originally posted by AES View Post
    I was talking to a solar installer yesterday who told me he made his supply side taps in the meter pan.

    Here in NJ the meter pan becomes property of the utility company.

    I have never heard of this type of connection.

    We have either put the taps in the main service panel or installed a wire trough next to the panel board. Any thoughts?
    Supply side taps are allowed for PV systems in NEC 690.64(A). This is an electrical tap connection after the meter, and before your main breaker. The advantage of this is you don't have to worry about the requirements of 690.64(B) - ie the 20% rule.

    Typically you can't touch the utility side of the meter at all. For supply side taps, you will usually need to have exposed wires inside the load side of the panel, before your main breaker. I use Kupple taps to do this. They allow for a hot tap connetion since the wires will be live on this side of the main breaker unless you pull the meter. Sometimes if there are existing holes in the buss bars or if they are large enough and spaced far enough apart you can attach mechanical lugs to do your tap connection. Most residential panels are not in this category. Many times there is no possible way to do a supply side tap, or in certain instances the AHJ will not allow.

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    • #3
      I know this is done but have not seen it in NJ so I don't know what the utility's opinion is. You can ask them if they would allow such a connection.

      You may need to change the meter pan. Some meter pans have lugs rated for two conductors. You can also get pans with double lugs in them.

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      • #4
        Solaree, this is the response from the utility I received today.


        Here is what I was told:

        Approval for connection to customer owned facilities is determined by the local electrical inspector.
        However, if the inspector gives approval ACE would like a disconnect / breaker before any connection to the service entrance cable.

        I assume this is a self contained metered account.


        I am not quite sure what they are saying.

        I understand the meaning of the words, I just think the person did not fully understand the question.

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        • #5
          They are just saying that you need to have an AC disconnect or circuit breaker at your point of connection to the existing electrical system. If you do a supply side tap type connection you will always need to use a fused AC disconnect to protect the system, because otherwise you would have a connection directly from you utility transformer to your inverter with no overcurrent protection or disconnecting means. If you connect with a circuit breaker this provides both your connection, disconnecting means and your overcurrent protection. Your utility is probably more concerned with having a way to shut down the system.

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          • #6
            solar_geoff, what are Kupple taps? Is there another name for them?
            [url="http://www.newenergyconstruction.com"]New Energy Construction[/url]--Manhattan Beach, CA

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