Coming Soon to NJ - 12.35 kW Hanwha DUO-G5 + SolarEdge Inverter/Optimizers by GPE

[NJturtlePower]

I did ask GPE about the RGM option, briefly, back in 2017. At that time they said that I needed to have a physically separate revenue meter for SREC' -- I didn't know any better. I just agreed and didn't press the issue. GPE seems to prefer this approach (separate, external meter) and they use it on all of their installs.

I suggest you call or email the folks at GATS to confirm that they'll accept the data from the SE RGM option.
https://www.pjm-eis.com/

Just shot them an email as I could not find an answer online.

Per the link Butch sent back on page one, (http://njcleanenergy.com/renewable-e...projects-srecs) which states,
" The monthly kWh production must be reported to the PJM GATS SREC Tracking system to update your account. This meter does not need to be capable of transferring data electronically. While it is possible that your inverter is capable of displaying accumulated kilowatt-hours, the accuracy of the inverter meter does not meet the ANSI C12.1-2008 accuracy standards required by the NJCEP and therefore can not be used for the purpose of generating SRECs. The Market Manager has conducted an informal survey of several major inverter manufacturers and has confirmed that these inverter readings are not intended to meet revenue-grade meter accuracy requirements and are not ANSI C12 Certified.

This speaks to the RGM and typical inverter independently, not a combination RGM inverter unit and also does not specifically state that automatic transmission IS in fact an option either.

[NJturtlePower]

I did ask GPE about the RGM option, briefly, back in 2017. At that time they said that I needed to have a physically separate revenue meter for SREC' -- I didn't know any better. I just agreed and didn't press the issue. GPE seems to prefer this approach (separate, external meter) and they use it on all of their installs.

I suggest you call or email the folks at GATS to confirm that they'll accept the data from the SE RGM option.
https://www.pjm-eis.com/

Posted an earlier reply that seems to be in moderation...anyways, I did email PJM-EIS and got a response quickly, unfortunately not what I hoped to hear.

"There is no automatic data transmission that can be done with GATS.
Data from SolarEdge can be used to enter your generation.
I hope this information is helpful."

Darci R.
Customer Support Analyst
PJM - EIS Environmental Information Services Inc.

Well then.... threw the major appeal of the RGM inverter out the window.

How am I really benefiting from it without automatic reporting, anything extra in the SE portal? Just one less meter on the wall and some flack from GPE it seems overall.

[macaddict]

Posted an earlier reply that seems to be in moderation...anyways, I did email PJM-EIS and got a response quickly, unfortunately not what I hoped to hear.

"There is no automatic data transmission that can be done with GATS.
Data from SolarEdge can be used to enter your generation.
I hope this information is helpful."

Darci R.
Customer Support Analyst
PJM - EIS Environmental Information Services Inc.

Well then.... threw the major appeal of the RGM inverter out the window.

How am I really benefiting from it without automatic reporting, anything extra in the SE portal? Just one less meter on the wall and some flack from GPE it seems overall.

Seems that way. Looking at the physical meter numbers, gives me another excuse to go to the basement to work out

[ButchDeal]

I did ask GPE about the RGM option, briefly, back in 2017. At that time they said that I needed to have a physically separate revenue meter for SREC' -- I didn't know any better. I just agreed and didn't press the issue. GPE seems to prefer this approach (separate, external meter) and they use it on all of their installs.

I suggest you call or email the folks at GATS to confirm that they'll accept the data from the SE RGM option.
https://www.pjm-eis.com/

they do take automated reporting from several RGMs like locus meters, as well as SolarEdge.
You can deal with an aggregator like SRECtrade which knows how to set up each system for generation.

[NJturtlePower]

they do take automated reporting from several RGMs like locus meters, as well as SolarEdge.
You can deal with an aggregator like SRECtrade which knows how to set up each system for generation.

Yeah for a per REC fee of $10 and/or 7% in NJ? This RGM Inverter option is crashing and burning quickly...

Untitled.jpg

[sunpoweredev]

Looks like a productive day and some quality work! Did they need to replace much wood sheathing? Interested to see what the decking is like under my shotty 2 layer reroof the previous owner can take credit for.

My roof is a little challenging with two barn style almost vertical walls on the two-story side so I'm also interested how they handle that.

I'm nervous about all the nails and tarping on my back deck. I just spent hours powerwashing it recently AND built/installed a full new lounge patio set, so hoping they can redirect the trash slide off to the side in that area.

I currently have two attic fans with old fashioned mushroom vent tops, one on each roof section, and Damien mentioned the same plan as he did with yours. They will cap off the electric, cover the holes and cut the ridge venting in all roof peaks. I'm going to try and get some temp reading over the weekend maybe to spot check cooling they claim will be better, but in the end it' is what it is I guess, they're the experts. I'm also having my one and only skylight replaced and slightly oversized (30" X 30") rather than going custom to match the roughly 25" X 25" that is in place. It's an original manual pop up/crank open unit going on 38+ years, gas seal is shot (as shown) and will be replaced with a lower profile fixed unit.

Some pictures of the roof BEFORE the pending work after our recent chimney rebuild attached.

The replaced 5 sheets (the first one was included, $50 extra for each additional), four of which were because of the removal of the attic fan and three static vents. The other was from where my attic furnace vents, which was a bit soft around the vents. It was just very slightly soft and not visibly rotted, so it seems the crew was pretty thorough in finding issues before laying the shingles. Damien did send over 5 sheets when they dropped off the supplies.

Wow you weren't kidding when you said vertical. I imagine that part will take significantly longer. I don't know what my pitch is but not too steep. The crew had no safety gears on. Two bits on Tesla when they came to my house to do a survey. The guy looked like a kid fresh out of college. When he took off the cover off my electrical panel to take photos, he put on the entire safety suit that resembled a space suit complete with the mask, and brought along a non conductive mat to stand on. Just to take some photos Also, he drilled my roof to attach his safety harness and tied his ladder before going up there. Now of course I'm concern for his safety, as I was watching the Costello crew up there with no safety gears, it just seemed very amateurish though it was probably company policy. A licensed electrician who lives in my neighborhood did my NEMA14-50 outlet, he did it all without shutting any power off. I was watching him do it and asked if he needed to cut power first. His reply was only if you want me to Was gonna DIY the 14-50 but he was cheap enough for me not to risk electrocution.

As thorough as the crew was in cleanup, there will be lots of granules all over your patio or deck. They moved my lawn furniture away from the house and onto the lawn and the table was still covered with debris. They did tarp around the entire house and covered my AC units. I disconnected my attic fan ahead of time since it was wired directly into an electrical box in the attic. I should've done a spot temp reading before, but as I said earlier it's pretty suffocating up there on a hot sunny day. It should be fairly obvious the effectiveness of the ridge vents next time I go up there.

[sunpoweredev]

Just shot them an email as I could not find an answer online.

Per the link Butch sent back on page one, (http://njcleanenergy.com/renewable-e...projects-srecs) which states,
" The monthly kWh production must be reported to the PJM GATS SREC Tracking system to update your account. This meter does not need to be capable of transferring data electronically. While it is possible that your inverter is capable of displaying accumulated kilowatt-hours, the accuracy of the inverter meter does not meet the ANSI C12.1-2008 accuracy standards required by the NJCEP and therefore can not be used for the purpose of generating SRECs. The Market Manager has conducted an informal survey of several major inverter manufacturers and has confirmed that these inverter readings are not intended to meet revenue-grade meter accuracy requirements and are not ANSI C12 Certified.

This speaks to the RGM and typical inverter independently, not a combination RGM inverter unit and also does not specifically state that automatic transmission IS in fact an option either.

The folks over at njcleanenergy are quite responsive with my email inquiries. I knew that I'm not locked into the SREC program until the PTO is issued, which I thought is a bit of a gamble which I didn't like. So I sent an email over to ask about where the state stands as far as reaching the 5.1% cutoff. They quickly replied with a pdf with the 5.1% projection which is around May of 2020. It's still no guarantee but I was a bit less uncomfortable in moving forward with that information. You seem very resourceful but I'll attach that page in case you haven't seen it.

I'll just forget about the RGM inverter to minimize issues.

51.JPG

[NJturtlePower]

The replaced 5 sheets (the first one was included, $50 extra for each additional), four of which were because of the removal of the attic fan and three static vents. The other was from where my attic furnace vents, which was a bit soft around the vents. It was just very slightly soft and not visibly rotted, so it seems the crew was pretty thorough in finding issues before laying the shingles. Damien did send over 5 sheets when they dropped off the supplies.

Wow you weren't kidding when you said vertical. I imagine that part will take significantly longer. I don't know what my pitch is but not too steep. The crew had no safety gears on. Two bits on Tesla when they came to my house to do a survey. The guy looked like a kid fresh out of college. When he took off the cover off my electrical panel to take photos, he put on the entire safety suit that resembled a space suit complete with the mask, and brought along a non conductive mat to stand on. Just to take some photos Also, he drilled my roof to attach his safety harness and tied his ladder before going up there. Now of course I'm concern for his safety, as I was watching the Costello crew up there with no safety gears, it just seemed very amateurish though it was probably company policy. A licensed electrician who lives in my neighborhood did my NEMA14-50 outlet, he did it all without shutting any power off. I was watching him do it and asked if he needed to cut power first. His reply was only if you want me to Was gonna DIY the 14-50 but he was cheap enough for me not to risk electrocution.

As thorough as the crew was in cleanup, there will be lots of granules all over your patio or deck. They moved my lawn furniture away from the house and onto the lawn and the table was still covered with debris. They did tarp around the entire house and covered my AC units. I disconnected my attic fan ahead of time since it was wired directly into an electrical box in the attic. I should've done a spot temp reading before, but as I said earlier it's pretty suffocating up there on a hot sunny day. It should be fairly obvious the effectiveness of the ridge vents next time I go up there.

Interesting how that 5 sheet count worked out, but you can't really object to having some nice new platforms for your roof and solar for the few extra bucks. Better safe than sorry for sure which is why I definitely wanted to do the roof now to outlast the solar system's life. Imagine what a disaster it would be to have to replace a sheet or section AFTER the fact with solar installed.

The rest of my roof is a typical 7/12 or 30-degree pitch where all the solar will be installed, but yeah, those sides must me fun to strip and re-shingle for sure. FYI your roof pitch can be found on your solar array engineering plan (the one that shows the strings A-B-C etc.) or also on the color coded "solar layout pdf" you approved with the design team early on.

Yes, same experience here with the Tesla crew site visit. Very by-the-book, over-the-top on the safety and compliance routine, this coming from someone who works in safety and compliance haha. At the same time, I use to work in the field (environmental/lab pack chemist) and know how the balance of PPE/safety vs efficiency is a struggle, so i can relate with both sides. Comes down to knowing what you're doing and having ample experience...... there's no guarantee there won't be an accident, but you'll be much better off than you or I with electrical for example.

Just put two thermometers in the separate attic spaces to get some data. The taller 2nd story attic has an attic fan, ridge vent and gable vents on either end. The lower garage attic has an attic fan, NO ridge vent, and only one gable vent on the driveway side plus two small soffit vents located on the front covered porch.

[NJturtlePower]

So my solar "Site Prep" is now complete with a full roof teardown and install this past weekend. The Costello Roofing crew did a great job as expected, although I think the job was a bit more than they were planning due to the quote being based on pictures alone vs a site visit. Before the job started I was told they should be done in a day....in reality the job took a bit longer.....

Friday 6/14 - Crew of 6 showed up at 7:30am and immediately seemed concerned about the steep barn style sides. They went at the rest of the roof like business as usual, leaving the almost vertical North side roof for the end. They stripped the two old layers off, removed the attic fans, patched damaged decking (a full 5 sheets like they had pre delivered sunpoweredev ) , cut the ridge venting over the garage/family room section and installed the new skylight. Although we had left for dinner in the late afternoon, I was watching via our security cameras and the crew didn't head out until about 9:30pm that night with work still remaining.

Saturday 6/15 - Crew of 3 were back at 7am to start cleaning, finishing up flashing work around the chimney, some trim work and eventually to tackle shingling of the North side roof. All said and done they rolled out about 6pm for a total of about 25-hours onsite between the two days!


I put together a few picture collages showing the Before, During and After....
Roof Before During & After LQ.jpg

Roof B&A Front LQ.jpg
Now just waiting on GPE to bring on the solar!

[J.P.M.]

The price of a new roof before solar install: Substantial.
The feeling you'll get during first big rainstorm that wakes you up at night after the PV is installed knowing you did it right and got the roof serviced beforehand: Priceless.

Believe it.

[sunpoweredev]

Looks great NJturtlePower! Two full days of work yeah you got your money's worth. Were you pleased with their cleanup? I found a single nail after their cleanup and that was it. According to Damien, around 15k nails would be used on a roof of my size, so I was quite impressed having only found one.

I'm scheduled this week with GPE, but due to possible storm all week I don't think it will happen.

[NJturtlePower]

Looks great NJturtlePower! Two full days of work yeah you got your money's worth. Were you pleased with their cleanup? I found a single nail after their cleanup and that was it. According to Damien, around 15k nails would be used on a roof of my size, so I was quite impressed having only found one.

I'm scheduled this week with GPE, but due to possible storm all week I don't think it will happen.

For sure a solid roof deal, especially when rolling it into the solar financing deal.

I am pleased with the cleanup overall, but I give them a bit of slack on the couple nails I have found so far (on the lawn) considering with a double layer teardown you'll have TWICE the amount of nails coming off. On the North side roof especially not only were they stripping one row at a time via ladder, they couldn't set the tarp slide well due to my giant overgrown bushes near the house and the angle so they ended up on their hands an knees crawling through the bushes to pick up all the debris, shingle scraps and rolling the magnet for sharp goodies. Also they were sending down material in 3 seperate areas/sides so a wider area of possible strays in my mind.

I actually just bought a cheap $15 magnet roller on Amazon for piece of mind. The kids don't go barefoot often, especially on the side of the house, but better safe than sorry.... I also don't need a stray nail in my tractor tire either so let's see what I can find on my treasure hunt.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COYMDK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Too bad about the weather this week and GPE scheduling.... I'm waiting to hear from them as well to see where I'll be on the calendar.

[sunpoweredev]

For sure a solid roof deal, especially when rolling it into the solar financing deal.

I am pleased with the cleanup overall, but I give them a bit of slack on the couple nails I have found so far (on the lawn) considering with a double layer teardown you'll have TWICE the amount of nails coming off. On the North side roof especially not only were they stripping one row at a time via ladder, they couldn't set the tarp slide well due to my giant overgrown bushes near the house and the angle so they ended up on their hands an knees crawling through the bushes to pick up all the debris, shingle scraps and rolling the magnet for sharp goodies. Also they were sending down material in 3 seperate areas/sides so a wider area of possible strays in my mind.

I actually just bought a cheap $15 magnet roller on Amazon for piece of mind. The kids don't go barefoot often, especially on the side of the house, but better safe than sorry.... I also don't need a stray nail in my tractor tire either so let's see what I can find on my treasure hunt.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COYMDK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Too bad about the weather this week and GPE scheduling.... I'm waiting to hear from them as well to see where I'll be on the calendar.

GPE actually called earlier. They'll be here tomorrow to start putting down the racking.

Good luck on your treasure hunt. I might pick one of those up since it's only $15.

[sunpoweredev]

NJturtlePower my install coordinator just confirmed to me that the inverter will be the screenless version. Disappointing. One less reason for me to have it inside the garage taking up wall space I guess.

[J.P.M.]

If you plan on keeping track of output or realtime monitoring, I've found a screen to be very helpful and practica. What was the reason you got for no screen ? Screen or not, I'd put the inverter in the garage and keep it out of the elements. It'll last longer with fewer potential maint. issues.