One of the benefits of the Enphase system is the Enlighten web-based service that shows the status of each solar photovoltaic panel.  Although Liam Ryan completed the initial configuration yesterday, Bryan added some additional details today so the reporting is robust.

Link to Enphase Enlighten System

Our Enphase Enlighten system portal is as follows:

http://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/j8aJ30045

The link above allows us to see the status of each individual panel so we can monitor the performance of the entire system.

Please note that the Enlighten system portal will not be dynamic until the City of Monte Sereno approves our solar installation, which should be on Monday, September 12, 2011 and Pacific Gas & Electric allows our system to be connected to their distribution system.

Real Goods Solar completed the installation of our solar photovoltaic system today.  It rocks!  The team from Real Goods Solar is exceptional and we endorse them 100%.

Taking Deliver of our FSC-Certified Siding

Our FSC-certified siding was delivered today.  In following our principle of sustainability, we are using FSC-certified wood materials whereever possible.  We spoke with Robert Spalding from Roseburg Forest Products and he recommended that we use their FSC-certified Douglas Fir siding, manufactured with grooves every 8 inches, as it would be a close match to the original siding on our Eichler.  Chris Tritschler, from Channel Lumber, coordinated our order as we wanted clear siding, with no blemishes.

The 41 sheets of siding were delivered to the job site today.

Darryl Arrived Today

Bryan’s younger brother, Darryl, arrived today on a flight from Calgary.  Darryl has not visited us in California for several years and it was great to host his visit.  Bryan coordinatated a test drive in a Tesla (go figure).  While in the Tesla showroom in Santa Row, Bryan looked at one of the bodies of the Model S, which will be manufactured at the former NUMMI plant in Fremont, California.

On the test drive, they brought a color sample back to the job site.  We wanted to see how close the Fusion Red was to the color of our (powder coated) red front door.  Take a look at the photo below and let us know what you think.

Completing the Installation of Our Solar Photovoltaic System

With the spacing of the four arrays on the Upper Flat roof established yesterday, the team quickly completed installing the remaining 28 panels.  After a team photo, Liam Ryan and Bryan McFarland focused on completing the wiring connections and then configuring the system.  Matt Knobbe joined them to complete the installation certificate (CF-6R-PV).

Just as the system was being tested, Devon Kelly, from Builder’s Energy Services arrived at the job site to verify the installation for the rebate application.  Devon is a HERS rater and will verify the installation, perfor4mance and shading specifications as set forth in our rebate application.

The Enphase Envoy unit registered all 48 solar photovoltaic panels and recorded the generation of electricity through the system.  Liam, using a notebook at the job site, configured the orientation and layout of the solar photovoltaic system.  The final configuration that will be accessible via the Internet can be completed tomorrow.

So, the construction and installation team has now ‘passed the baton’ to Roseanne Provost-Morgan, who will file the applications for the rebate and all associated documentation (e.g., interconnection agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric, etc.).  After the City of Monte Sereno signs off on our solar building permit, Ro will submit our rebate application electronically.

It is a race to the finish line!

Installing the remaining 28 solar photovoltaic panels on the Upper Flat roof.

Bryan McFarland, on the roof over the Garage, directs his team.

The arrays are now in place ...

Load center to shut off the array on the East Gable and North Gable is hidden behind the post on the West side of the North Gable.

Completing the wiring to the load centers on the Upper Flat roof.

A quick photo of the installation team from Real Goods Solar!

The Channel Lumber delivery truck arrives with our 41 sheets of siding.

For the siding, we decided on 'Clear' grade.

FSC, of course ...

Al, Nep and Bryan unloaded the 41 sheets of 19/32 siding by hand into the Garage quickly ...

Our HERS rater, Devon Kelly, recording his findings on the Upper Flat roof.

Liam Ryan registered the Enphase micro-inverters directly from our job site.

The Envoy unit, located in the East Mechanical room, showing our solar photovoltaic system is producing electricity at a rate of 8,290 kW. This is one of the largest residential systems that Devon has verified.

A Tesla Model S, currently in the showroom on Santana Row in San Jjose.

Bryan's younger brother, Darryl, holding a Fusion Red color sample against our red front door. We think the color is a close match - what do you think?

Darryl enjoyed the test ride in a Tesla Roadster 2.5 Sport.

The deadline to complete the installation of our solar photovoltaic panels is approaching rapidly.  The team from Real Goods Solar is determined to meet the deadline.

The Operations Manager from Santa Cruz, Dana Farquhar, came to our project site today.  Dana is coordinating the team from Real Goods Solar and ensuring the the construction manager, Liam Ryan, has the resources he needs on site to meet the deadline.

Bryan McFarland ensured the arrays on the Upper Flat roof were spaced correctly, so no array would cast a shadow on the adjacent array.  We wondered if Green Building with Autodesk’s BIM software could be used to design the spacing between the arrays using its three dimensional capabilities.

The electric distribution panels are now enclosed and all of the components will be completed for our solar panel inspection, which is now scheduled for 1:00 pm on Monday, September 12, 2011.

The white stickers for our Nissan LEAF arrived in the mail from the DMV.  Bryan got the LEAF washed, put the stickers on, and had it waxed.  We’re ready to use the carpool lanes now!

The first pallet of solar photovoltaic panels arrived today. Our complete system will include 48 of these panels.

We purchased Sanyo's HIT-N215A01 panels. These panels are rated to generate 215 watts of power.

Liam Ryan (left) and Dana Farquhar, Operations Manager for Santa Cruz, review the installation on the Upper Flat roof. Dana is ensuring that our project has the appropriate resources from Real Goods Solar and Liam will configure the Enphase inverters.

Our solar photovoltaic panels will be seen briefly by people as they drive North on Winchester Boulevard.

Our solar photovoltaic array design has a total of six sets of 8 panels each. The Real Goods Solar team lined up one panel on each of the four arrays on the Upper Flat roof to ensure they were spaced correctly so eacharray would not cast a shadow on the adjacent array.

The spacing between the arrays on the Upper Flat roof were established today. The remaining seven panels in each of these four arrays will be installed tomorrow. We'll make the deadline!

The array on the North Gable is complete!

Side view of the completed array on teh North Gable.

View from behind the swimming pool of the completed array on the North Gable.

The covers are in place on our 400 amp electric panel. The solar photovoltaic system will have the shut-offs inside this cabinet, so it has to be ready for the inspection on Monday.

After having the LEAF washed at the carwash on Lark Avenue, Bryan put the white stickers on as required. Ready for its first wax ...

Our LEAF looks infinitely better with the white stickers!

Our newly waxed LEAF, waiting patiently for the charging system to start at 12:10 am tomorrow morning.

The team from Real Goods Solar completed the racking today, and also installed the remaining 40 Enphase micro-inverters.  They ran wires through the conduit to the East gable, and installed the load center under the North gable.  They did well during a very hot and sunny day.

When Bryan returned to the site after attending an ‘administrative matter’ in downtown San Jose, he was delighted to find that our new aluminum manhole ring and cover were delivered today.  The manhole cover goes over our vertical culvert.

Using Enphase Micro-Inverters

In our original design for our solar photovoltaic panels, we had planned to have two inverters, both located in the East Mechanical room.  After learning more about photovoltaic panels, we decided to use micro-inverters on two of our six arrays, which would have been 16 micro-inverters.  After Jonas Villalba reviewed our installation plans, he recommended that we go to 100% micro-inverters.  The benefit of micro-inverters is that it makes each of the photovoltaic panels in the system independent of the performance of the other photovoltaic panels.

In an array of photovoltaic panels that are connected to a single inverter, the electricity generated is a function of the performance of the photovoltaic panel producing the least amount of electricity.  This means that is one panel is dirty or has degraded performance, for whatever reason, all of the other panels in the array connected to that inverter will have their output reduced.

During the time from the original design to the change to 100% micro-inverters, the cost of micro-inverters dropped.

Thus, we increased the number of Enphase micro-inverters to 48.

Each of these micro-inverters has to be installed individually, which was completed today.

Our Aluminum Manhole Cover

The water from under the foundation goes through a drainage system and ends up in our vertical culvert.  From the vertical culvert, we have two sump pumps (one is redundant) that pump the water up and into our underground cistern.  From the underground cistern, we irrigate our draught-tolerant landscaping.

The vertical culvert is approximately 17 ft deep and has an inside diameter of 36 inches.  We have a ladder that goes inside the vertical culvert for maintenance and servicing of the sump pumps.  The vertical culvert needs a safe and secure cover.  We decided to have Barry Foundry of Birmingham, Alabama manufacture our manhole cover using aluminum.  We chose aluminum to reduce the weight of the manhole cover and to avoid corrosion.

The aluminum manhole cover, and ring, arrived today.

Way cool …

The aluminum manhole cover and ring, sitting on top of the vertical culvert. We need to cut the vertical culvert so the manhole cover is at grade.

The vertical culvert, and aluminum manhole cover, is at the top of the stairs and will be a feature of the house.

The project manager for the on-site work by Real Goods Solar, Bryan McFarland, sets up to pull the first set of conductors through to the array on the East gable roof.

The racks to hold the photovoltaic panels are completed on the Upper Flat roof. The Enphase micro-inverters are installed on the racking system.

The Enphase micro-inverters are being installed on the racking system. Note the Enphase box, which holds 10 micro-inverters.

The team from Real Goods Solar arrived at the site this morning and started working immediately.  They have a sense of urgency to complete our project as our rebate will expire on Monday, September 12.

Picking Up Our Custom Sink for the Kitchen Island

We were trying to find a Kohler 5-sided sink for our Kitchen Island.  After learning that the particular sink we were looking for was discontinued in 1993, we almost gave up hope for the sink dimensions.

After speaking with Cathy and John at the Powder Room in Los Gatos, we thought of getting a custom sink manufactured.  First, we tried to have Julien make the sink but they declined.  Then, John contacted Elkay in Chicago.

Elkay reviewed Bryan’s sketch and created shop drawings for review.  After two iterations, we signed off on the drawings and the sink went into production.

After the sink arrived today, Al and Nep cut a hole in the kitchen island mock up, and installed the sink.

It looks great!

This is an image from the internet of the five-sided Kohler sink that we were looking for. Apparently, Kohler stopped manufacturing these sinks in 1993.

Our Elkay sink is mounted in the mock up of the Kitchen Island.

Another view of the sink ...

The sink works! Back into the protective box until the island is built.

We need to have a couple breakers installed in our 400 amp panel for our solar panels. One of the circuits coming from the roof will land in this panel.

The team from Real Goods Solar assembles the racks on the Upper Flat roof.

Starting to assemble the tallest of the four racks on the Upper Flat roof.

The team from Real Goods Solar made great progress today. This is the status as of the end of the day.

The rack supporting the solar panels that straddle the North gable will only be visible from the back of the pool.

There are multiple components to our renovation/new construction project, all of which are tightly integrated in the overall program and design, and all of which are moving forward in parallel.

One of the components is the installation of our solar photovoltaic panels.  Our original plan, which we noted in our posting on September 19, 2009 (Why Are We Installing Solar Photovoltaic Panels?), was to have 32-175 watt photovoltaic panels in Phase 1.  After the change of law announced on October 13, 2009, we changed our strategy (see Pouring Rain and New Solar Generation Laws in California) so we could take advantage of the ability to generate more electricity that we could use.

We registered under the NSHP rebate program, and have a reservation for a 5.04 kW system.  When Bryan was driving to Merced on Tuesday, August 30, (see Picking Up Our Ladder and Looking at Artemide Lights) he learned that our reservation could be increased to 7.5 kW but the change had to be completed, and submitted, by Monday, September 12, 2012.  This deadline, which is now looming, has created a laser focus on completing the installation of our photovoltaic system, which will include 48-215 watt solar panels, set out in six individual arrays.

The expanded system will have a ‘nameplate’ rating of 10.32 kW (48 x 215 watts) and will generate approximately 90% of that (9.29 kW).  However, the limit under the NSHP is 7.5 kW.

Bryan put together a list of the key tasks that must be completed in order to complete the installation, have it inspected by the City of Monte Sereno, and have it verified by an independant HERS Rater.  He reviewed the list with Bryan McFarland of Reals Goods Solar, who is managing the installation of our solar photovoltaic system, and also discussed the procedures with both Dana Farquhar of Real Goods Solar and our HERS Rater, Darrel Kelly of Builders Energy Services, Inc.

The list is as follows:

• Complete unistrut frames on:
  North gable
  Upper Flat roof
• Install Enphase inverters on:
  North gable – 8 inverters
  Upper Flat roof – 32 inverters
• Mount load centers:
  Under North gable
  On Upper Flat roof unistrut frame (2 load centers)
• Pull conductors from:
  East gable to load center under North gable
  Load center under North gable to load centers on Upper Flat roof
  Load centers on Upper Flat roof through to East Mechanical room
• Complete connections to electric panels
  Install 30 amp double pole breaker in 400 amp panel, going to load center on Upper Flat roof
  Install 30 amp double pole breaker in 200 amp panel, going to load center on Upper Flat roof
• Complete network connections
  Install receptacle to the left of 200 amp panel in the East Mechanical room
  Install Enphase Envoy unit above receptacle
  Provide network access to Envoy unit
• Install Sanyo 215 watt photovoltaic panels on:
  East gable (one array of 8 panels)
  North gable (one array of 8 panels)
  Upper Flat roof (four arrays of 8 panels each, or 32 panels)
• Complete all labels and signage relating to solar
• Test solar installation
  Connect network to Internet
  Register each of the individual panels with Enphase (about 45 minutes) and verify solar production/generation
• Inspections and certification
  Schedule inspection by the City of Monte Sereno for Friday, 09/09/11 between 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
  Schedule inspection by HERS rater (Darrel Kelly) for Saturday, 09/10/11 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Submit completion certification to NSHP on 09/12/11

Quite a list!  We’ll see how our plan unfolds …

Starting the Day

Since the 60 mil TPO membrane roof was completed last fall, we had a leak (when Earth Bound Homes was verifying the chases were clear in the SIPs), and then made several penetrations for our plumbing vents.  In addition, we had to make two penetrations for solar mounts and then just last week we made four penetrations for the conduit going to the Upper Flat roof.

So … Al Courtney of Statewide Roofing sent three of his top installers over first thing this morning so they could make the necessary repairs to the TPO membrane roof.

With the penetrations for the solar mounts and conduit secured, the team from Real Goods Solar can work unimpeded.

We’re on track to meet the September 12, 2012 deadline.

The team from Statewide Roofing arrived first thing this morning to complete the repairs to the 60 mil TPO membrane roof.

The drain over the South East part of the Garage had to be replaced due to the hole that Earth Bound Homes made when verifying the electrical chases in the SIPs were clear. We discovered the leak during the heavy rains on December 31, 2010.

Plumbing vents on the North East corner of the house.

Plumbing vent on the West side of the house, over the Master Bathroom.

Solar mounts that straddle the ridge of the North gable.

The back side of the frames that straddle the ridge of the North gable.

New TPO membrane over one of the four penetrations of conduit on the Upper Flat roof.

Completed conduit under the Upper Flat roof. Note the reclaimed Redwood under the SIP roof.