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  • 10.4 KWh DIY Ground Mount Finally Online

    It has been a while since I have been on, but wanted to say thanks to those that answered my questions last summer and for all of the info.

    When I finally decided to go solar, I jumped in head first and took off. I ordered all of my equipment (good sale on) and then worried about a building permit. No issues, had a building permit in less than a week. I went with a ground mount system using a SolarEdge inverter and DC optimizers with 40, 260watt Canadian Solar panels. I worked on this mostly on Saturdays and some weekday evenings. I was in no rush, so I took my time and had it completely installed by myself in about 9 weeks. Everything went very smooth and had no issues at all except for the weight of the 3" galvanized steel pipe that I used for the base of the racking system. That stuff is a little heavy! When I was finished, the building inspector checked it all out and I passed with flying colors. He even said that I above and beyond in most areas of the install and that I did a better job than most electricians.

    So, it was done, now the waiting game with Rocky Mountain Power / Pacificorp. There was nothing wrong, but they were "very busy" and it took almost 3 months for the the engineer to approve my application and schedule a local tech to get a net meter set.

    Today was the day. They showed up this morning with the new meter (took all of 30 seconds to change out) and I flipped the AC disconnect switch and away we went. So far it has ran for about 6.5 hours and I have generated a little over 44 KWh of which 30 has backfed for me to use tonight when the sun is down.

    I have been toying with the idea of doing a little write up of my entire process if anyone could actually benefit from it as I took pictures and info all along the way.

    Needless to say, I am very happy to have flipped the switch and be up and running on solar.

    Thanks again to solarpaneltalk and its members. Great place for a lot of info.

    Jorgey



  • #2
    beautiful and impressive for a DIY job! congrats...

    Comment


    • #3
      Great job on your installation. A minor point is that your system is a 10.4KW (40 x 260watt = 10400watts) not KWh. It can be a little confusing to some people but I thought I would clarify it for you.

      Again nice job. Keep us posted on how it performs.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by jorgey View Post
        It has been a while since I have been on, but wanted to say thanks to those that answered my questions last summer and for all of the info.

        When I finally decided to go solar, I jumped in head first and took off. I ordered all of my equipment (good sale on) and then worried about a building permit. No issues, had a building permit in less than a week. I went with a ground mount system using a SolarEdge inverter and DC optimizers with 40, 260watt Canadian Solar panels. I worked on this mostly on Saturdays and some weekday evenings. I was in no rush, so I took my time and had it completely installed by myself in about 9 weeks. Everything went very smooth and had no issues at all except for the weight of the 3" galvanized steel pipe that I used for the base of the racking system. That stuff is a little heavy! When I was finished, the building inspector checked it all out and I passed with flying colors. He even said that I above and beyond in most areas of the install and that I did a better job than most electricians.

        So, it was done, now the waiting game with Rocky Mountain Power / Pacificorp. There was nothing wrong, but they were "very busy" and it took almost 3 months for the the engineer to approve my application and schedule a local tech to get a net meter set.

        Today was the day. They showed up this morning with the new meter (took all of 30 seconds to change out) and I flipped the AC disconnect switch and away we went. So far it has ran for about 6.5 hours and I have generated a little over 44 KWh of which 30 has backfed for me to use tonight when the sun is down.

        I have been toying with the idea of doing a little write up of my entire process if anyone could actually benefit from it as I took pictures and info all along the way.

        Needless to say, I am very happy to have flipped the switch and be up and running on solar.

        Thanks again to solarpaneltalk and its members. Great place for a lot of info.

        Jorgey

        How much did it cost?

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by SunEagle View Post
          Great job on your installation. A minor point is that your system is a 10.4KW (40 x 260watt = 10400watts) not KWh. It can be a little confusing to some people but I thought I would clarify it for you.

          Again nice job. Keep us posted on how it performs.

          Thanks. I think must of just had KWh on the brain as I was looking at the meter readings and some of my pasts bills, etc.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by veritass View Post
            How much did it cost?

            The cost was a little under $22,000.

            That includes all of the parts, panels, mounting hardware, concrete delivery, etc as well as some tools and the rental of some equipment (trencher, excavator). It also includes about $1,000 worth of items that purchased so I could have some spare parts (couple of extra panels, DC optimizers, mounting hardware and such), just in case something went wrong and I needed to replace or repair something quickly and not have to wait around on warranty service.

            By doing it myself, it saved me anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 depending on the the local installers that gave me quotes. I know that they would have not used as heavy of mounting and racking system as I used or upgraded the size of the conduit and gauge of wire as I have done (without having to pay even more).

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by jorgey View Post


              The cost was a little under $22,000.

              That includes all of the parts, panels, mounting hardware, concrete delivery, etc as well as some tools and the rental of some equipment (trencher, excavator). It also includes about $1,000 worth of items that purchased so I could have some spare parts (couple of extra panels, DC optimizers, mounting hardware and such), just in case something went wrong and I needed to replace or repair something quickly and not have to wait around on warranty service.

              By doing it myself, it saved me anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 depending on the the local installers that gave me quotes. I know that they would have not used as heavy of mounting and racking system as I used or upgraded the size of the conduit and gauge of wire as I have done (without having to pay even more).
              Well done. How long do you estimate the payback period is? How much money will you save? Solar City's average installed cost in $1.92 a watt (that is without the huge markup). I wonder how they can install for such a low cost.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by veritass View Post
                Well done. How long do you estimate the payback period is? How much money will you save? Solar City's average installed cost in $1.92 a watt (that is without the huge markup). I wonder how they can install for such a low cost.
                Is the $1.92/watt before or after the rebates? I've noticed a lot of installers like to give you the after rebate cost as it sounds so much better. But I would think that a huge company like that would have some enormous wholesale discounts that would lower their costs dramatically.

                After my rebates, the 22K will go down to 13.4K which will then lower my out of pocket installed cost to $1.29/watt. If I use all of the money that I would have been paying to RMP each month to pay off my loan, it will have a pay off of about 5.6 years. I will likely stretch it out to about 8 years though, so still a pretty good ROI.

                Comment


                • #9
                  That is a pretty amazing risk free return. I think the $1.92 is before rebates. I got the number from their investor relations website. Can you post a rough breakout of your costs?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by veritass View Post
                    That is a pretty amazing risk free return. I think the $1.92 is before rebates. I got the number from their investor relations website. Can you post a rough breakout of your costs?

                    Sure, I'd be happy to do a little break down. You'll have to give me a day or two to get it all together and once done, I'll post it.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Great ROI. Looks great well done. More pics!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Well done! DIY installs do save a homeowner quite a lot and I think there are a lot of people that can't afford to pay an installer but could go solar themselves if they applied themselves like you have.
                        BSEE, R11, NABCEP, Chevy BoltEV, >3000kW installed

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by veritass View Post
                          That is a pretty amazing risk free return. I think the $1.92 is before rebates. I got the number from their investor relations website. Can you post a rough breakout of your costs?

                          Here is quick breakdown on the costs:
                          $17,197.45 - Solar equipment (40 - Canadian Solar 260watt panels, Solaredge 10000 Inverter, 40 - Solaredge DC Optimizers, IronRidge XR1000 Rails and Mounting Hardware for 3" pipe, PV Wire, PV Connectors, mc4 heavy duty crimpers, DC disconnect, shipping)
                          $1574.70 - Galvanized Steel Pipe and Couplers (11 - 21' x 3" pipe and 4 couplers)
                          $245.55 - Equipment Rental (Excavator w/ 18" auger, Trencher)
                          $1898.86 - (1500' 6-gauge Wire, Disconnect Switches, 4 Grounding Rods/Ground Wire, Conduit, Bracing, Misc. Small Parts)
                          $415.63 - Concrete Delivery (2.6 yards)
                          $151.00 - Building Permit
                          $500.00 - Misc. Tools (Cordless Drill, Handheld Portable Band Saw, etc.)

                          It was a good project.
                          Last edited by jorgey; 01-26-2016, 08:53 AM.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            The photo is awesome.
                            33-CS6P250,1-SMA6000US,SMAwebconn,Egauge

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Nice installation jorgey!
                              Those look like pretty long spans for your vertical pipes.

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