While the roof team may seem to have all the glory of installation to themselves, the ground team does merit some appreciation. Although the solar panels are placed on the roof, as well as the microinverters in this install, the electricity generated by the panels must be fed into the main service panel (an electric box) located in the back of Mr. Conquering Bear’s house. On the ground this morning I worked with Riley, Allan, and team supervisor Austin, in the crawlspace. We dropped the grounding wire down from the back room into the crawl space but the wire wouldn’t fit into the conduit at first so we had to bend new wires and try and fit it into the awkward space between the wall and insulation. The power is off to the home to prevent electrocution as we handle the wiring, so we were without lights in the crawlspace save a flashlight.

Austen wearing an arc flash suit to avoid potential electrocution while working on the main service panel

Eventually we got all the wiring in place so that when the panels are active, they will directly power the home!

In the afternoon we fed wires up to the roof that would connect the arrays and finalize the connections. Tomorrow we will finish the instal!

Riley places Caution sticker on electrical box