Brent S 16.74kW Grid-Tied Ground Mount

"I would also highly recommend IronRidge and their design assistant to create your ground mount array layout. I could model different panels and configurations to find the right balance of height/width that I wanted for my site."

"Probably the most difficult portion of this project was finding a suitable electrician to partner with that would oversee and sign off for my work. I was lucky to finally find one (took 6 months prior to starting the project to find) and his project oversight provided not only satisfied my local County inspector but also for Xcel Energy. The permitting process was made easier by RES Supplies “Permit Package for Grid-Tied PV System” which was invaluable in getting through these processes in a quick and efficient manner. Neither jurisdiction needed more information than provided in this RES package. You must have patience for this part of the install as maneuvering through this application process as it was 50% of my entire time spent to complete the whole project!! Each jurisdiction has different requirements for labeling so take the time to ensure you have all the necessary Solar labels needed when you are done so you do not fail an inspection for something so trivial. I was able to size up my array by 3KW by purchasing an electric car and quickly found a used 2014 Leaf prior to putting in my utility application."

"A potential pitfall avoided was that I originally sourced my Galvanize pipe from a local supplier and when it arrived, I double checked the specs written on the pipe and compared to the submitted plans and realized the grade of pipe carried by any big box (or even pipe supply house) was not the correct grade of Galvanized pipe and they could not even source a grade “B” pipe as specified by IronRidge’s engineering so I returned it and ordered the Gatorshield pipe out of Florida which was about $500 more expensive for the whole project but would satisfy engineering requirements if there was ever a big wind/tornado."

"I really enjoyed this project and would do another if I could! My county inspector had low expectations and was wary that someone would try building an array this large as a DIY project and gave me kudos that my work was as good or better that the large companies that do this day in a day out."

"Allowing me to save the most money on the components, RES Supply was AMAZING to work with! I cannot stress this enough!! Any items delivered that were damaged/missing, they were so quick to rectify with the replacement part arriving typically overnight. Saving even more money during construction, my son and I dug all 22- 12” x 54” holes by hand and with my wife’s help, mixed the concrete in a little cement mixer from Amazon to boot! While appearing daunting, it only took 2 days to mix/pour all 22 holes-190 bags of concrete in all!"

"The project has far, far exceeded my expectations for production! I started the project in May and was approved to turn it on July 7^th while only working weekends to accomplish the project. To date, I have produced 12.7MWh during a crazy wildfire season where production was very limited by thick smoke for 2 months while Colorado burned. Annual production even with these issues will still beat the PVWatts annual estimate by at least 1KW. Moving to the Xcel “Time of Use” plan has allowed me to leverage my production at a higher energy rate and use the energy banked when rates are lower for charging an EV/Laundry etc. This effectively will give you 10% more energy to use as you will generate and bank at a higher rate and spend at a lower rate. This project will pay for itself in about 7 years with the current tax incentives."

"This project would have been much more difficult and expensive if I had not partnered with RES Supply. Not only are their prices and shipping cost an industry best, but they also ALWAYS answered the phone when I had a questions or issues during the project. For example, Todd was able to identify my undersized current main panel and offer upgrade choices when a line side tap would not be sufficient for the size of array I was installing. Jennifer was amazing and had a lot of patience with me as all the deliveries arrived and figuring out any shortages from suppliers or sorting through shipping damage and rectified those issues super-fast. She went over and above until she was sure everything received was correct as ordered."

 

Project Photos

Project Components