Big Thunder PV Installation Page

Big Thunder PV Installation Page
Documenting the PV Experience

Last Update December 11, 2005
    From the very beginning we had planned to install PVs for the house. The construction costs didn't allow us to do it at that time, although I prewired some for the eventual system. Most of that turned out to be useless. So, finally, January 2005, the process starts for real.
     What I want to is document the process (Don, I blame you for this habit), hopefully saving someone else some grief by getting things lined up and lay out some warnings. We'll see.

      Photos 01 The concrete footings go in.
    Photos 02 The electrical trench is put in and the wiring starts. Posts delivered and installed, motors and racks started.
Photos 03 The PV's get installed along with the rest of the racking.
Photos 04 Conduit and wiring get run, sun sensors installed, elevation motors wired.
      Photos 05 More conduit, wire and preparing for final wiring. Auto tracking functions tested.
      Photos 06 Final installs, inverters, conduit and some photos of the arrays.
      Performance Data. Just a quick Page about how it's working.

     And, the timing:

Date	Event
1/5/2005	Downloaded Solar Generations Application. This is Nevada's net metering rebate program.
1/7/2005	Mailed Solar Generations application.
Jan 2005	Designed system is broad terms (size, mounts) and began contacting vendors.
2/25/2005	Placed order for 36 KC120 panels. Got them from Affordable Solar.
3/1/2005	Placed order for 2 Wattsun AZ-225 trackers, each for 18 KC120.
3/16/2005	Met with Joe Pizur of Alternative Energy Solutions about the system.
3/18/2005	Received the KC120 panels.
3/29/2005	Talked to Roger Roepke about engineering my foundations.
4/1/2005	Received the AZ-225 trackers.
4/7/2005	Met with Elton at Cathexes about doing a site plan.
4/29/2005	Got engineered plans from Roger. Talked to county plan reviewer about other required elements.
5/2/2005	Went to the county at 9 am with plans and other materials for permit. Some three hours later and 1 trip to Cathexes to have Elton re-do the site plan, I got the permit. I guess if you've never done this before, it comes off a bit odd.
5/25/2005	Finally got eastern edge of lot surveyed. Laid out foundations.
June 2005	Spent some time getting wire, conduit and other parts to complete the installation.
6/2/2005	Dug holes for foundation piers
6/3/2005	Cleaned up holes and tied steel for foundations.
6/6/2005	Got inspection for steel and poured about 12 yards of concrete and finished the tops.
6/10/2005	Gave plywood templates to Tony for welding up the posts.
6/14/2005	Dug trench for electrical. Also moved some boulders and started putting in conduit and wire.
6/16/2005	Finished underground conduit and electrical.
6/17/2005	Passed underground electrical inspection. Ready to close trench.
6/18/2005	Buried the trench (thanks, Sean).
6/20/2005	Tony finished the support posts and delivered them for powder coating. John went and selected a color. John is colorblind. This should be interesting.
7/12/2005	Tony delivered the posts. He, Grant and I got them set then plumbed, dry packed and left. Yes, they were at the powder coaters for over 3 weeks.
7/13/2005	Motors set on top of posts, torque tubes installed, and N-S actuators installed. Ready for the PV's (almost)
7/14/2005	Started PV installation with the South array.
7/15/2005	Finished PV installation on the North array and did the grounding.
7/18/2005	Ran conduit, sensors and wiring the strings of the South array
7/19/2005	Ran conduit, sensors and wiring the strings of the North array
7/25/2005	Tested range of motion on trackers for conduit flex.
7/26/2005	Ran flexible conduit for PV panels on south array.
7/27/2005	Ran flexible conduit for PV panels on north array. Did long wire pull to house.
7/29/2005	More conduit installation and mounted combiner/power supply boxes.
7/30/2005	Started testing auto tracking functions.
8/16/2005	Worked with Joe Pizur on the array wiring.
8/24/2005	Completed most of final wiring. Still waiting on two more fuse holders/fuses.
8/28/2005	Full operational test of PV's
9/1/2005	County building inspection -- we passed!
9/2/2005	Larry Burton from Solargenerations came and gave us the final SPP inspection and tagged the boxes.
9/16/2005	Generation meter installed and we are off and running!

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