New Solar PV System Underway

REC started installing the new solar PV system this week. The Fronius inverter is considerably larger than our old SunnyBoy:

Below the inverter is a hole in the garage wall where the Tigo power monitoring cable leads to the controller inside the garage (sorry a bit blurry):

The Tigo controller itself is mounted on the inside garage wall:

I was a little concerned that our garage shelves wouldn't fit flush with the wall, but Lauren at REC said that the crew had measured the distance and it should be OK. This kind of attention to detail is what distinguishes professionals like REC from amateurs like our good friend Duke, who installed our HRV system.

On Thurs, REC had the mounting rails up on both sides of the house (and probably on the dormer too but that's hard to see). Here you can see the rails on the west side, where the old system was.  Note the rope the crew uses for tying in, very smart on our steep roof:

You can see the power conduit leading down to the inverter.

Here's the rails on the east side:

The next day, they had the panels installed on the east side:

and on the dormer:

You can just see the edges of the panels on the roof of the dormer.

Here you can see the Tigo modules on the back of the panels still in the garage:

These communicate with the controller in the garage to maximize the energy output of the PV system.

There are 16 panels in the garage yet to mount on the west side. Then we have to wait about a week until  PG&E certifies the system, but fortunately our meter doesn't need to be swapped out. Lauren sent email and said that REC would be finishing the job on Tuesday, since Monday is their Employee Appreciation Day. What a concept! Somebody ought to tell Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, about that.