We just completed a solar installation in October. Our home is less than 4 years old, so our E panel is 300w - no changes were required by our city inspector. Our gas line is less than 3 feet away.
However, that being said, our neighbor who is currently building a brand new home across the street had to move his main electrical panel and then when that wasn't quite enough for the inspector, they had to dig up and move the gas line. So they ended up moving things twice, and this was after passing the inspection for location of their Gas & Electrical Panel locations prior to September 2015.
We ran into similar conflicting problems with our home build regarding new CalGreen water rules that went into effect as we were building. Fortunately our local inspector deemed our local rules tougher than the CalGreen rules and passed some things in our home that don't pass in other jurisdictions.
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The inspector is from the city, not PG&E. It completed in Sept. I do not think PG&E do any inspection. They just sent a welcome e-mail by the end of Sept only. The question is what is your panel busbar? What does your city inspector say? What does your installer say?
Even last week I talked with the city inspector in Alameda county. He said it is no problem at all.Leave a comment:
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The 2015 Greenbook says no wires in the 3 ft range. Since the gas and electric feeds come in together the stated rule would appear to require changing the feed. That appears to be the way the PG&E inspector, Oakland CA, that we have dealt with is reading it. One reading of the 2015 Greenbook would say that since we are not upgrading the panel to higher ampacity the new separation requirement is not triggered (See section 1.15.1 Upgrading, Replacing, or Relocating Electric Facilities, p. 1-13). But that is not how our inspector is reading it.Leave a comment:
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When was your inspection? The PG&E inspector, Oakland, Alameda county, that we have dealt with says that we cannot connect to the panel even if we do not upgrade the panel. He is stating that adding a conduit connection to the panel for the inverter or adding a breaker to the panel triggers the separation requirement.Leave a comment:
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It is not corrected. 2 of my houses : 1967 (Contra Costa) and 2004 (Alameda) built houses have both meters next to each other. Grand father law protects you if you do not upgrade your panel.
When I put solar on one of the house, my city inspector told me that there is no problem. I am working with other city inspector for my Alameda house to explore the possibility to DIY on it. He said it is also fine. So at least 2 cities in SF Bay Area are ok with this.
However, if I upgrade my panel, he requires me to move the new panel 3 feet from the gas line.
So, do not upgrade panel unless you have no choice ... My case is the main panel has 200A bus already. I just need to put a sub-panel for solar.Leave a comment:
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has anyone gotten PG&E approval in California since Greenbook 2015 on existing homes?
The new Greenbook 2015, the PG&E rules for gas and electrical, requires that gas meters and electric meters be separated by at least 3ft. In Oakland, CA it would appear that most existing systems have the metering close and next to each other and therefore not compliant with the latest Greenbook. We were told that we could not install solar by connecting into the existing meter area because it would not be in compliance with this latest Greenbook 2015 standard. The section cited is Section 2, Gas Service, D. Minimum Meter Set Clearance Requirement, p. 2-29. The inspector is suggesting that to make a solar connection one needs to separate and move the meters. This would require trenching and moving of underground electrical feeds, gas lines or both.
The question is: has anyone been able to get a PG&E permit to install PV in existing homes since the introduction of the September 2015 Greenbook release?
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