Are my math figures correct?

[SunEagle]

Depending on where you live, you will need to meet fire code and set back distances of the panels from the edge and roof peaks. On top of that the wind and weight loading calculations for your roof must meet code.

[sensij]

The dimensions of the CS6X-305 panel are 76.9" x 38.7". You've seriously overestimated how many will fit. In many areas, setbacks for firefighter access are also required along the edge and at the peak of the roof.

Your balance of materials costs are too low. See this thread for some real costs for a DIY system. It is much smaller than yours, but the costs will scale.

Respectfully, you haven't posted anything that suggests you are capable of tackling this as a DIY project. Please consider hiring a professional.

[ButchDeal]

I'm here to make sure that my financial figures are not too optimistic



Here is what I have


$38000 - 140 canadian solar cs6x-305m @ 273 per
$5200 - Inverters
$500 - Lines and wires
$500 - Shutoff switch
$5000 - Shingles
$1200 - Mounts
$1000 - Miscellaneous
+_____________
$51,400

Way too low on mounting, especially for a landscape layout. $5k seems very low for inverter for a 42.7kw system too.
How large is the service to the home? most residential service in MD is 200a, which you are going to have a very hard time connecting 42.7kw system to a 200a service.
It also looks like you plan to install on the north side of the roof? that is going to make very little financial since to have 22kw of solar installed on a north face that pays at wholesale rate.

[mattlreese]

Respectfully, you haven't posted anything that suggests you are capable of tackling this as a DIY project. Please consider hiring a professional.

I also am going to have to respectfully agree with ButchDeal. I am a major fan of DIY and I DIY as many projects as I can. I did not even consider doing solar myself. For one the permit process is very complicated, far more so then many other county permit processes. There is also engineering involved with your roof and trusses for load calculations. You would need to hire an electrician certified in solar to do the install and meet code.

[gte]

I appreciate your input, I have close family that are builders and electricians and anything that I wasn't sure about, they would do or help me with. I also have a lot of electrical experience and building experience (I know that claim doesn't mean much on the internet) but I did not want to list that in my initial post because I wanted to come off as needing advice and not as a know it all, because I do not know it all. I hope that was an acceptable way to approach it? If not, I apologize.

Also, I have 400amp service at my house.

I will let you know what ecodirect.com quotes me at and I am very appreciate of everyone's input whether it is agreeable or critical or in the middle. Thank you

[SunEagle]

I appreciate your input, I have close family that are builders and electricians and anything that I wasn't sure about, they would do or help me with. I also have a lot of electrical experience and building experience (I know that claim doesn't mean much on the internet) but I did not want to list that in my initial post because I wanted to come off as needing advice and not as a know it all, because I do not know it all. I hope that was an acceptable way to approach it? If not, I apologize.

Also, I have 400amp service at my house.

I will let you know what ecodirect.com quotes me at and I am very appreciate of everyone's input whether it is agreeable or critical or in the middle. Thank you

Just be aware that I believe by June or July of this year all home solar pv systems will be required to meet the latest 2014 NEC regulations including emergency shutdown. If the electrical design does not include all the requirements then a permit will not be issued.

Found the Solar PV NEC article.

[gte]

Thank you, I must have misread when l calculated for 24x48"

The dimensions of the http://www.canadiansolar.com/downloads/datasheets/v5.3/Canadian_Solar-Datasheet-CS6XP_MaxPower-v5.3_en.pdf"]CS6X-305 panel[/URL] are 76.9" x 38.7". You've seriously overestimated how many will fit. In many areas, setbacks for firefighter access are also required along the edge and at the peak of the roof.

Your balance of materials costs are too low. See https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum/solar-panels-for-home/solar-panel-installation/17714-diy-system-in-ca-8-68kw-system/page3"]this thread[/URL] for some real costs for a DIY system. It is much smaller than yours, but the costs will scale.

Respectfully, you haven't posted anything that suggests you are capable of tackling this as a DIY project. Please consider hiring a professional.

[J.P.M.]

I appreciate your input, I have close family that are builders and electricians and anything that I wasn't sure about, they would do or help me with. I also have a lot of electrical experience and building experience (I know that claim doesn't mean much on the internet) but I did not want to list that in my initial post because I wanted to come off as needing advice and not as a know it all, because I do not know it all. I hope that was an acceptable way to approach it? If not, I apologize.

Also, I have 400amp service at my house.

I will let you know what ecodirect.com quotes me at and I am very appreciate of everyone's input whether it is agreeable or critical or in the middle. Thank you

But, to me anyway, what still seems a valid and respectfully asked question from what I've read of your posts: Do you know anything about solar energy, it's applications and limitations ?

[ButchDeal]

Also, I have 400amp service at my house.

You might be able to do a line side tap (will need an electrician for that and more money). your 42.7 is going to need close to 200a of feed in alone which will not work as a feed in breaker on your system.

[gte]

This is a very broad question, so I'll answer as best as I can. If I understood your question wrong, ask a few sub questions and if I know the answer I will answer, if not I will say I don't know.

Solar energy comes from the light waves of the sun, activating and causing movement in the chemicals inside of each photovoltaic cell. The DC voltage created by each panel is ran to the inverter in parallel or series with the other panels if you have more than 1 panel and the inverter transforms DC to AC sine wave voltage. The inverter or inverters are connected to your electrical panel through a disconnect switch and fed into the home, excess goes into the grid.

My house is in zone 8 (I believe, I cannot find the government map that depicted this at the moment) and that page said I would average 4.2 hours of usable solar sunlight a day. I have 2 trees that I need to top and one side of my roof faces east, the other side faces west.

I would like to take advantage of net metering, I am not taking advantage of this for the environment, but for the sake of money.

But, to me anyway, what still seems a valid and respectfully asked question from what I've read of your posts: Do you know anything about solar energy, it's applications and limitations ?

[SunEagle]

This is a very broad question, so I'll answer as best as I can. If I understood your question wrong, ask a few sub questions and if I know the answer I will answer, if not I will say I don't know.

Solar energy comes from the light waves of the sun, activating and causing movement in the chemicals inside of each photovoltaic cell. The DC voltage created by each panel is ran to the inverter in parallel or series with the other panels if you have more than 1 panel and the inverter transforms DC to AC sine wave voltage. The inverter or inverters are connected to your electrical panel through a disconnect switch and fed into the home, excess goes into the grid.

My house is in zone 8 (I believe, I cannot find the government map that depicted this at the moment) and that page said I would average 4.2 hours of usable solar sunlight a day. I have 2 trees that I need to top and one side of my roof faces east, the other side faces west.

I would like to take advantage of net metering, I am not taking advantage of this for the environment, but for the sake of money.

You understanding of solar is close enough. But unless you have the knowledge of electrical, building, fire and safety codes knowing how sunlight turns to electricity is not enough.

While having a South facing roof is best, having an East West facing roof helps a lot for late day or early morning generation. As you have indicated, Shade is not your friend, concerning a solar pv system.

Finally. To be grid connected you will be required to have a contract with your POCO for net generation. Generating power to the grid without their permission will get you in trouble or worse.

[gte]

Thank you.

I do have knowledge of electrical and building, I built a detached ~3000sqft garage, trenched the wire to it, wired up the sub panel (175a) and ran all of the electrical throughout the building for the lights, socket, air compressor, welder, lift that I installed and dynojet that I installed. I also passed the permitting process for this.

Fire and safety codes I would have to receive from my county permitting office or read up on, I don't have good knowledge of that. My family also is well versed in that because of their occupations. I would definitely get a permit, which would clear any hurdles with the PoCo (BGE) .

My detached garage does have a south facing side to it


Besides fire and safety, is there anything else you could recommend that I should get information on?

You understanding of solar is close enough. But unless you have the knowledge of electrical, building, fire and safety codes knowing how sunlight turns to electricity is not enough.

While having a South facing roof is best, having an East West facing roof helps a lot for late day or early morning generation. As you have indicated, Shade is not your friend, concerning a solar pv system.

Finally. To be grid connected you will be required to have a contract with your POCO for net generation. Generating power to the grid without their permission will get you in trouble or worse.

[SunEagle]

Thank you.

I do have knowledge of electrical and building, I built a detached ~3000sqft garage, trenched the wire to it, wired up the sub panel (175a) and ran all of the electrical throughout the building for the lights, socket, air compressor, welder, lift that I installed and dynojet that I installed. I also passed the permitting process for this.

Fire and safety codes I would have to receive from my county permitting office or read up on, I don't have good knowledge of that. My family also is well versed in that because of their occupations. I would definitely get a permit, which would clear any hurdles with the PoCo (BGE) .

My detached garage does have a south facing side to it


Besides fire and safety, is there anything else you could recommend that I should get information on?

I would say to find someone in your area that has solar pv installation experience. You might find that information at your local permit office or maybe a local electrical contractor. You could even contact your POCO to see if they can help guide you into designing and building a system that will get quickly approved.

[J.P.M.]

This is a very broad question, so I'll answer as best as I can. If I understood your question wrong, ask a few sub questions and if I know the answer I will answer, if not I will say I don't know.

Solar energy comes from the light waves of the sun, activating and causing movement in the chemicals inside of each photovoltaic cell. The DC voltage created by each panel is ran to the inverter in parallel or series with the other panels if you have more than 1 panel and the inverter transforms DC to AC sine wave voltage. The inverter or inverters are connected to your electrical panel through a disconnect switch and fed into the home, excess goes into the grid.

My house is in zone 8 (I believe, I cannot find the government map that depicted this at the moment) and that page said I would average 4.2 hours of usable solar sunlight a day. I have 2 trees that I need to top and one side of my roof faces east, the other side faces west.

I would like to take advantage of net metering, I am not taking advantage of this for the environment, but for the sake of money.

No further questions here, just a comment or two. Sounds like you understand some of the basics of the physics involved, but not as much about the practical considerations such as how to size an array, loads, resource availability, enough about process economics to help with your at least implied goal of most bang for the buck, or tools that may be an aid in understanding those things. That is, at this point it seems you don't know what you don't know.

Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest. In any event, good luck.

[gte]

Well I got a quote for 140 panels from http://www.wholesalesolar.com/ for 44,650 using Suniva 330 watt panels. I believe it would require 4 of these SolarEdge SE10000A-US-U Inverter at 2k a piece, so we're up to 53k, it comes with free roof racking for all of the panels and monitoring software so I can find the best angle, so add a 2k for miscellaneous wiring, parts and the kill switches and I'm up to 55k or so.

I also found out what my county code was for these and I will speak to them tomorrow about permits and such, which are pretty cheap and I call my PoCo also. Residential is considered less than 70k kw where I live. Once I get the complete estimate, I'll post that information as well.