inspections for Solar

We had no issues at all with the inspection process – was very straightforward and no one looked at anything else. I wouldn’t worry about this. We love having solar. Hope your installer is as good as ours was (Five Boro), and congrats!

riis10

in Roofers 11 years and 3 months ago

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bootsbar | 11 years and 3 months ago

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we just started the process to instal solar panels on our roof and i was told that this would involve a DOB city inspection and an electric ConEd inspection. call me paranoid but city inspectors scare the crap out of me, as ive been told horror stories about how they look for any little thing to fine you over. has anyone been through this kind if inspection? do they just look at the roof and the main electric panels in the basement or do they want to go into every room in the house? and does coned do their best to stall this because they dont want you making your own energy?

robindgray | 11 years and 3 months ago

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The first thing you need to do is employ the services of a reputable solar contractor / installer. They should handle everything for you including the inspections. The DOB will want to see all items pertaining to the solar installation, so they will inspect the roof (DC Side), conduit runs, inverter, AC side of the system including any diconnect devices and point of interconnection with the building system. The solar contractor has to utilize the services of a licensed electrician so they should be able to correct any code violations prior to the inspection. The inspector will only be intersested in the PV system but as with anything else, it will also depend on the inspector. As for the Con Ed side of the approval, this is very straight forward. They are required to follow the New York State PSC interconnection requirements by law which sets very stringent timelines on the utility to respond to requests for design review and inspection. Again, the contractor will take care of this for you as they will have to submit design documentation such as electrical layout, signed Appendix A of the NYS SIR, a letter of authorization from the customer, product information about the type of inverter to be used, new net-meter request etc. Once Con Ed has reviewed this documentation, they will give the go-ahead to install. Con Ed may inspect the system after the DOB inspection to check that it is operating correctly, they will then swap the meter. If the system size is less than 25kW, then the Con Ed process is simplified further as the contractor will probably be able to self certify the installation.