Jim Nelson
Platinum Member
On our system it was installed by a contractor, who had to get a permit from the county, and at completion of the installation, it had to be inspected by the county and then the utility before it could be turned on. The only glitch was the contractor hadn't applied the plaques on the front of the meter box. He showed up while the inspector was still here and everything was fine. I get a weekly statement form the utility showing usage and a monthly statement from the invertor supplier showing production.
There is a small display plugged into the closest wall outlet to the meter box and a small unit plugged into a wall outlet closest to our desk top computer.The installer told me that the unit in the garage communicates with the little plug in box by the computer through the common wire in the house wiring.This little box communicates with the computer wirelessly and I can check anytime to see what it is producing.
It's all voodoo to me but seems to work.Having a system owner installed like you're dealing with would be near impossible without some records including passwords etc. but should be doable through the utility customer service dept. if you can find anyone there who will go to the effort.
There is a small display plugged into the closest wall outlet to the meter box and a small unit plugged into a wall outlet closest to our desk top computer.The installer told me that the unit in the garage communicates with the little plug in box by the computer through the common wire in the house wiring.This little box communicates with the computer wirelessly and I can check anytime to see what it is producing.
It's all voodoo to me but seems to work.Having a system owner installed like you're dealing with would be near impossible without some records including passwords etc. but should be doable through the utility customer service dept. if you can find anyone there who will go to the effort.
After having my Own Grid Tied array for 12 years, my opinion is sort of mixed. If I was doing it over again I would just buy-in to someone else's project. You will always pay the base Electric Syste Charge. As a prior poster said, it makes no economic sense to generate more power than you use. The utility buys that back at the same rate that they pay for the power they get from say "Seattle Light." In my Case, what my Power Utility pays Bonneville. What it does do is let you live "Large." In the sense that you are now free to use up all of that electricity with stuff like charging an electric car. That is where you gain, because you are offsetting the more expensive electricity you would normally be paying for. And you can buy and use less efficient, cheaper, appliances, light bulbs...etc. You really get nothing for over generating what you can't use.
