Be my own general contractor?

[psteinbach]

Hello All,

I'm a Canadian who's been lurking a while here on Otherpower, this is my first post... here goes.

I'd like to put approx 1kW of grid-tie PV on my roof to offset a portion of my electric bill. (I'm also working on conservation, measuring loads with a Kill-a-watt meter and generally driving my family crazy...)

I've spent some time talking to the gentleman who does many of the PV installs in my town. His rough estimate for 1kW of grid-tie PV is 10,000 $CDN for parts and 2,000 $CDN for installation.

That's a lot of money.

Internet retailers can beat his price on parts by a couple thousand dollars. (Unless I'm forgetting some important/pricey components. I also need to confirm what tariffs will be owed if I order from a US retailer.) Newer grid-tie inverters look easy enough to install that a good, experienced electrician should be able to handle the job.

So, how realistic would it be to act as your own "general contractor" for this sort of install? Has anyone done the system design on their own grid-tie system? (e.g. Chosen the panels, inverter, disconnects, mounts, hired an electrical contractor to do the install, worked through the approvals process, etc...)

Any shared words of wisdom would be appreciated. Many thanks,

-- Paul

[rotornuts]

I Honestly think for an application like this it's best to NOT act as your own general contractor unless you allready have significant experience.

BTW, Homeowners as general contractors are often the tradesmans worst nightmare. They mean well but lack the experience.

[Big All]

The saying "Knows just enough to be dangerous" comes to mind.

I must add, I fit quite nicely into that catagory.

[old55olds]

You are going to look at freight,, not cheap, brokerage, and gst. I got my bergy from the US saved nothing,, 2 solar panels, again saved nothing. I hate to burst the bubble but.  I have close to 30K invested. Payback time at .06 cents per kilowatt will be well after I am dead and gone. But that is what the utility will pay you. Now I installed everything myself and have gotten 10 of my solar panels at wholesale cost. At present it is not economical to go this route. If power rates go up much more Yes. If you are going to build your own windcharger etc OK but I think that Epcor and Enmax are going to be rather tough to deal with.

Just my .0002 cents worth

Ken

[iFred]

If you look on the hydro ome web site search for solar, they have some info concearning this. The goverment of Canada will also give you back all PST and GST I beleive it was for a full install of all PV powered stuff. thats another web site, I beleive PST rebates etc.. The main problem will be the electrical utility company and their rules.

Also I might add.. We have a slightly different electrical listing system in Canada then in US. I refer to ULA coding here. Don't know if it pertains to PV.

P.S. I can tell you that if the alt energy system was seperated from the utility system, you would have less problems and are free to do as you please except for meeting electrical code standards. Hope this helps!

Check me out...

http://www.internetfred.com/why-wind.html