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Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

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Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#151

Post by toomuchtodo »

markab21 wrote: post #150
toomuchtodo wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How come solar panels are ubiquitous elsewhere? Is it that e.g. Germany is risking the lives of line workers? Is Florida doing the right thing, or the wrong thing? 1. Florida does not provide any subsidies for solar installs (only the Federal 30% tax credit) 2. Florida utilities continue to lobby directly against solar, while sinking money into non-renewable generation technologies (this is changing, as some Florid…

I too am a Florida Resident and my power costs are 8.3 cents/kwh. (Duke Energy) I've attached my normal rate sheet below. https://www.duke-energy.com/_/media/pdfs/rates/peratespefres...

I'm on TECO in Tampa: http://www.tampaelectric.com/files/content/resratesinsert.pd...

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#152

Post by criddell »

thriftwy wrote: post #142
criddell wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that. But if you're so fearful that you think a code inspector is there to harm you, you probably shouldn't be allowed to own a gun. Instead you should seek medical care.

What if code inspector isn't there to harm you, but you see no reason to allow them on premises? I don't see why one would have to deal with spurious/frivolous visits from officials without their own request.

Oh sure, I see what you are saying now. If it's inconvenient the most reasonable course of action is to shoot the inspector.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#153

Post by ubernostrum »

KGIII wrote: post #94
ubernostrum wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The controversy is over what happens when the power supplied via the grid goes out. There are generally two options that could be taken here, in light of the argument that a powered house connected to an unpowered grid is unsafe: 1. Any solar system on the house would be required to shut off at the same time, leaving the house without power from any source, or 2. A solar system on the house could continue to provide…

The ability to lock it is almost certainly for lock-out, tag-out reasons. They will come ensure you're disconnected and then just one person has the key to the lock they put on it. That one person isn't the supervisor, but the person doing the work. If more than one person work on it, they will all put locks on it.

What it's intended for is irrelevant. What's at issue is they can just leave a lock on there permanently, as a means of leaving you completely without power when the grid goes down.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#154

Post by KGIII »

ubernostrum wrote: post #153
KGIII wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ability to lock it is almost certainly for lock-out, tag-out reasons. They will come ensure you're disconnected and then just one person has the key to the lock they put on it. That one person isn't the supervisor, but the person doing the work. If more than one person work on it, they will all put locks on it.

What it's intended for is irrelevant. What's at issue is they can just leave a lock on there permanently, as a means of leaving you completely without power when the grid goes down.

That makes no sense. If the grid power is out, they want that switch turned off. If its not, you're pushing power to the grid. If its off, you're not and you are using it for your home power needs.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#155

Post by LorenPechtel »

grecy wrote: post #32
oconnore wrote: post #8

The article is trying so hard it's hard to tell what the actual issue is. It is dangerous to backfeed the grid -- you may kill the line worker coming to fix a blown transformer or downed line. In some places a grid connection is considered necessary by the building code. If so, you must use proper equipment.

So don't backfeed the grid when the grid is "off" That has nothing to do with powering you own home from you own solar panels. When the grid-tie inverter senses the grid is down (it could even be scheduled outage for maintenance) - it stops feeding the grid and only powers the house. When it senses the grid is back it ties to the grid again. If you need to work on the house, there can be a master switch where the pan…

Except the normal solar inverter can't do this. It doesn't see the grid, it doesn't produce power.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#156

Post by jimktrains2 »

sddfd wrote: post #143
jimktrains2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The future buyer of your home would like to ensure the safety and correctness of the wiring. The future buyer also needs to know what the limits of the system are, so that they don't accidentally overload it, and if it is overloaded that it performs appropriately (i.e. stop instead of catching fire). A future buyer may, thinking the house is to code, attempt to connect the house to the grid. If it is not wired approp…

The requirement to use the same wiring precludes the home owner from having an additional low-volate wiring in the house. Most modern devices use low voltage nowadays, check what any of the power supply units for your laptop, phone, etc output to the device. Low-volate is less dangerous, and international regulations (IEC 60449) reflect that. I'm not an expert, but it is likely that besides the law discussed here, su…

I'd be surprised if it precluded the use of low voltage wiring because there are standards for it as well.

The issue is that the law ends up with houses needing the 120VAC connection to the grid. I don't think that doesn't mean there can't be a secondary low voltage line, but ianal.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#157

Post by mapmap »

addHocker wrote: post #137

Not conspirancid related - but a real problem. If there is a fire, solar panels produce power while preventing water from reaching the roof - and electrocute fireman. How to solve?

As part of install there is typically a diagram added to the fuse box or inverter showing how to switch generation off.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#158

Post by homero »

SigmundA wrote: post #77
homero wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't run loads from cells directly, you need a battery and inverters. Or every cloud will fluctuate the voltage and watts massively and your electronics will fry. In the olden days, flickering incandescent would be fine.

Not exactly accurate. My Dad has a 7kw array grid-tie no battery system in FL. It has a single emergency outlet that will provide up 1500w when the grid is down. With the power being down last week from Irma it was able to output at least a 1000w load even with heavy overcast. It will off course shut off if it can't provide the attached load. If you have a solar system for home its going to have an inverter, but most…

True but look at the percentage, a smaller setup would have very little useable load

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#159

Post by ubernostrum »

KGIII wrote: post #154
ubernostrum wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What it's intended for is irrelevant. What's at issue is they can just leave a lock on there permanently, as a means of leaving you completely without power when the grid goes down.

That makes no sense. If the grid power is out, they want that switch turned off. If its not, you're pushing power to the grid. If its off, you're not and you are using it for your home power needs.

No, the thing that is actually happening is the switch is not getting flipped to disconnect when the grid goes out. Which means the solar panels also need to stop producing power, and leave the house entirely without power.

That is literally the thing people are complaining about here.

Re: Florida Power and Light: Regulations for home solar installations

#160

Post by thriftwy »

criddell wrote: post #152
thriftwy wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if code inspector isn't there to harm you, but you see no reason to allow them on premises? I don't see why one would have to deal with spurious/frivolous visits from officials without their own request.

Oh sure, I see what you are saying now. If it's inconvenient the most reasonable course of action is to shoot the inspector.

It's not "inconvenient". It's violence. Is violence just inconvenient for you?
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