General grid-tie informational posts/stickies?

Grid Tie used to be as simple as it gets. But now new codes have complicated it some in different areas.

Mount the panels on something
Wire them to a disconnect switch
Wire the switch to the GT inverter
Wire the inverter to your electrical panel. (may need to be upgraded)

Depending on permit requirements in your city, you can buy parts, get roof load calculations signed by engineer, and install and wire yourself. Or you may need lic electrician to do the wiring.

Or you may go the micro-inverter route, and put the electronics up with the panels.

Mike, that was a masterful "in a nutshell" post.

He did give a good bullet point list but forgot about "try not to fall off the roof" and "don't get electrocuted while wiring the panels".

That does sound pretty straightforward....what is the purpose of the disconnect switch?

Short answer - code requirement. More obvious answer: The on/off switch for the sun is inaccessible to all except Montgomery Burns. If you, or anyone else, needs to service the inverter during the day, you'll need a way to disconnect the DC voltage generated by the panels.

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I think you hit the nail on the head!

It may be quite obvious and just common sense to all of you who have been dealing with this stuff for years...but there is no need to mock me.
Thank you sensij, your answer was quite helpful

+1. I think you covered just about everything.

sorry, not trying too mock you, but to shed light on the solar requirements. On every project, there are thousands of things that are not directly related to the subject. I only listed the relative issues in the first post, leaving the rest to be personal responsibility. I would think that being up 20' on a sloped roof, you have already tied your shoelaces and put on clean underwear.

The problem in the modern world, is there is too much mollycoddling going on, and children are so cocooned and protected, they have never experienced a hammer, let alone hitting their thumb with it. I'm an old fart and take the basic safety stuff as a given.

batteries not included.

Not just in solar but life in general - the "everyone gets a ribbon" generation with little or no discipline is hard to take at times.

I am glad to be 69 and sorry for my kids that they have to tolerate the present situation which will no doubt only get softer, lazier and always be looking for more freebies.

When my daughter was in third grade she said "When everyone gets a reward there is no reward!". If a third grader can figure this out, then why is it so hard for the adults to understand?

They're too busy flying the helicopter.

At the risk of further humiliating myself...I just would like some input on this subject one more time. I was awarded the contract to install this 20KW 440V 3ph grid-tie inverter. Based on those spec, the previous advice still stands, correct? And, I'm not talking about all the silliness, I'm referring to the technical advice

Each panel is a 60-cell 35V 250W configuration, the inverter is rated for DC input of 620V with max open circuit voltage of 850V. "Range of MPPT Voltage" is 200-820V. I'm planning to run either:

• four 15 panel strings. DC power should be sitting at about 525V and up to 28.5A
• three 20 panel strings. DC power should be sitting at about 700V and up to 21.5A

Either option should be OK for running 8ga wiring to the inverter (about 200ft round trip) with under 1% loss.
The inverter will then be wired into the warehouse 3ph mains at 440V AC. I'll have a disconnect on the DC side. The inverter will handle up to 850V open circuit voltage, rated DC voltage is 620V.