Good morning forum!
We have a farm in Rhode Island and just spent the last year and a half planning a 20kw solar panel install on our property. The system is set up on 2 rooftops and uses Panasonic panels with SolarEdge inverters and optimizers.
As we are a farm we took advantage of 3 separate grant opportunities which helped offset the cost of our system. We just got interconnected 2 days ago and were starting to fill out our grant reimbursement paperwork when we noticed a problem.
I was looking in our SolarEdge app and saw energy flat lining at 15kw. The system is designed as 19,175 watts (DC)/23,815 kwH annually, and the solar company we used guaranteed in our contract we would produce at least 17.8 KWH annually in our first year. I was concerned seeing it being limited at 15kw, so I emailed the installer and got a pretty swift response saying we are capped at 15kw.
After some research I am starting to believe that we are capped at 15kw due to being single phase? Am I correct? If this is the case, why did they sell us a 20kw system? Additionally, as a condition of our grants we need to show that the system can generate the 20kw we got approved for. If these conditions are not met then our grants will not be paid. I am very nervous about this and looking for some advice.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I look forward to being here on this forum going forward as we grow and expand our solar system.