Public and private sector entities are working to get the do-it-yourself capabilities of solar installation a reality for homeowners and businesses alike.  It may be as simple as installing a washer/dryer appliance in your home.  Currently, to install a solar array system for your home requires the services of contractors, electricians, inspectors and the city planning/permitting department.  However, plans and progress have been made to streamline all of the aspects of installation to where a homeowner can purchase the system.  Panels are evolving to a lighter and more manageable design where they do not weigh as much as they do now and can be roof-mounted with minimal hardware and experience.

Ensupra Solar LLC (Houston, Texas) has developed and markets do-it-yourself (DIY) PluggedSolar system kits, which can be installed in one day. Sunil Sinha, CEO of Ensupra Solar, said that the key is the standardization. Standard design and installation processes reduce the cost of installed solar system by almost 40 percent compared with traditional systems, which are highly customized. The company offers 1.2- and 1.5-kW grid-tie solar systems that can be directly connected to the 120-volt household outlet and does not require a licensed electrician to make the connection. The kit comes with pre-configured and pre-wired UL certified components (PV modules, grid-tie inverter, converter, and wires) with racking for either ground or roof mounting. Contractors may still be required for more difficult installation locations (steep roofs, taller structures, etc.), but what is being proposed may impact those one-storeyed houses where owners want an effective way to curb their carbon footprint by using solar panels to power up their homes.

Simplifying the solar system design can reduce the installation cost, but this is only half the story. The great future success and commercialization of plug-and-play PV systems will come not only from simplifying hardware and installation process, but also streamlining or reducing permit/inspection and utility interconnection requirements. While recent technological advances have drastically reduced the cost of solar hardware, soft costs — non-hardware balance-of-system (BOS) costs, including permitting, inspections, and interconnection — continue to account for an increasing portion of average installed residential PV system prices. In fact, soft costs accounted for approximately 64 percent ($3.19/W) of system costs in 2012, according to a report published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in October 2013.

In the U.S., regulatory requirements and the permit process are often arduous and costly. With more than 18,000 jurisdictions and 5,000 utilities, many installers face frustration with layers of paperwork and the lack of standardization in permit and interconnection requirements and the various fees. Completing and submitting a permit application, waiting for the permit to be processed, and getting the inspection; each of these processes add significantly to the soft costs.

For the project, the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School (IEE) compiled a comprehensive list of the codes and standards applicable to residential rooftop solar systems in jurisdictions across seven states. It also identified various regulatory barriers to the plug-and-play concept. The team is taking a variety of measures to make the plug and play PV system compliant with existing codes and standards wherever possible. The team will propose modifications to current codes and standards to develop a voluntary plug-and-play system standard.

The DOE believes that plug-and-play systems will make the process of buying, installing, and connecting solar energy systems faster, easier, and less expensive, potentially unlocking major reductions in the soft costs — with a specific goal of $0.65/W by 2020. (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com)

The next step in the evolution of home-generated electricity is the storage and direct ownership of that electricity. The system above is designed for a grid-tied one. So, if the grid were to go down for any reason, then the system would not supply electricity to your home, even though the solar panels would still be converting sunlight to DC electricity.  Rechargeable battery storage systems are sure to catch on to a do-it-yourself system that would allow homeowners to use the free electricity created during the day as the system collects sunlight and during the night from excess energy (not used during the day) that is stored in the battery system. This would ultimately put homeowners off-grid and free them from ongoing electricity bills and constraints (power outages, brown-outs, etc.) that are enforced by utility companies. Solar energy systems have been evolving for quite some and it looks like autonomy may very well be just around the corner.

Solar on!

–Your Solar Link