LADWP Frustration

[Tee2]

Puting this up to see if anyone else out there is going through what I am with regards to their solar installations. I had my panels put up around the end of February this year. It took about a week to get them installed, panel derated, etc. Took about another month to get permits with the city pulled and inspected. Everything passed.

Now the Los Angeles department of water and power wants its own electrical panel permits pulled even though I have an electrical permit for the system signed off on already by the City. I have no idea how long this will take, and what other steps I'll have to go through to get my system up and running. At the rate this is going summer will be over long after I finally can switch the system on.

Has anyone else had these issues? My installer says this is highly unusual but there's nothing out of the ordinary about my system.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Mike90250]

Hooking to THEIR grid, they have final say. Was the install coordinated with them from the beginning ?

[inetdog]

Can't say about their general customer interface, but they are knows to have some odd ideas about what the NEC requires as well as some totally unjustified rules of their own which they can enforce because it is their grid.
Example: If you have a 100A service and put in a 200A panel upgrade with a 100A main breaker to accommodate PV backfeed, they will still insist that you pay to upgrade your service to 200A to match the panel rating.

[gvl]

Example: If you have a 100A service and put in a 200A panel upgrade with a 100A main breaker to accommodate PV backfeed, they will still insist that you pay to upgrade your service to 200A to match the panel rating.

This is what happened to me, albeit with SCE. Their reasoning was some genius in the future who may not be aware of the service wire ampacity can a 200A breaker on the panel and bad things will happen. As for me it is a valid concern. As for LADWP frustration, I thought SCE was bad...

[Stopsignhank1]

I think you should be more upset with the installer than with LADWP. He did not pull a permit with them. Each jurisdiction has it's own permit and looks for different things. In this case the city permits deal with your house, the aesthetics, the fire access and making sure the panels meet the building code. This has nothing to do with the power coming into your house. LADWP needs their own permit to make sure that your power is compatible with theirs and meets their electrical codes. Why your installer did not pull a permit with LADWP is beyond me.

[J.P.M.]

I think you should be more upset with the installer than with LADWP. He did not pull a permit with them. Each jurisdiction has it's own permit and looks for different things. In this case the city permits deal with your house, the aesthetics, the fire access and making sure the panels meet the building code. This has nothing to do with the power coming into your house. LADWP needs their own permit to make sure that your power is compatible with theirs and meets their electrical codes. Why your installer did not pull a permit with LADWP is beyond me.

+1.

Comment to potential solar users: Things can always go wrong, but this is another example of why it may be worth a slight premium to choose experienced, reputable electrical contractors who have been in business long before they sold solar. solar. Also, where was the installer when all this was going on ?

[solarfrank]

I think you should be more upset with the installer than with LADWP. He did not pull a permit with them. Each jurisdiction has it's own permit and looks for different things. In this case the city permits deal with your house, the aesthetics, the fire access and making sure the panels meet the building code. This has nothing to do with the power coming into your house. LADWP needs their own permit to make sure that your power is compatible with theirs and meets their electrical codes. Why your installer did not pull a permit with LADWP is beyond me.

Your installer didn't follow the steps to deal with LADWP.
LADWP does not issue any permit just LADBS.

Your installer has to make reservation with LADWP for propose solar system and if he had to change the electrical panel he has to call for meter spot.

After their approval( 24 hours- 2 months in the past ) your contractor can pull the permit with Building and Safety LADBS , now for small systems can be pulled online takes less than 10 minutes.
After that he can start work, pass building and safety inspection( LADBS).
He has to send the paperwork to LAWDP using PowerClerk, and LADWP will inspect the systems in 2-10 weeks .

All those information are very clear on LADWP under solar .

[jimqpublic]

Sounds like installer should have known better, but it also appears that DWP doesn't have enough staff working in solar approvals. At least per this article on commercial solar approvals:
KPCC article on DWP understaffing its solar review/approval department

[Tee2]

After a little over 6 months of various inspections, paperwork, more inspections, more paperwork, my 9k system went live last weekend. So far it's produced 415 kWh, and runs at a peak power rating of around 7.5k at peak sun. It's fun watching the meter "spin backwards" and seeing the credits accumulate during the day, only to have it run off the back end at night when I charge my car and run various items around the house. I sized the system at what should have been a break even point but it's not putting out as much as I would have hoped, though I'm thinking it's partly due to the time of year, with June/July being optimal for production. In any case, finally in the club.

[gvl]

What panels/inverter do you have and what is your array orientation? My 9kw LG/SolarEdge SE facing system is barely peaking at 7kW in this weather.

[Tee2]

I'm not sure who actually manufactures the panels but they're assembled and installed by Andalay Solar. They're 250 watts each, 36 panels with Enphase micros inverters. I took a hose to the system this morning and washed 6 months of dust off everything and production is up around ~3% from yesterday. My orientation is pretty much dead south, and since I had a more or less flat roof they installed risers to give everything the correct tilt.

[Tee2]

Here's my public production page:

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/DCSG591776?preview=1

[gvl]

Likely need to wash mine, 4 months since the install but we had a heavy rain a month or so ago. Orientation and tilt probably at play too. Btw, if you have hard water washing the panels with tap water isn't a very good idea.

[Tee2]

Good point about the hard water deposits, I hadn't considered that.

Thanks!

[Mike90250]

Hard water deposits - Look on Amazon for the Mr Clean car wash kit - it has a DI cartridge that will give you a clean rinse after washing. Not much pressure with it, so you have to be on the roof to use it.