After signing the contract at the agreed upon price our sales representative took pictures if our electrical box and utility meters. We discussed where the panels and meters would be installed and agreed upon specifications. Our system would be 24 Silfab 310 watt premium panels, located on the south facing side of our roof. Meters would be installed near the current utility meters. The specifications were sent over to the design team who put together the design that was sent over for customer approval. We denied the first design because we requested a satellite to be removed and the solar panel wiring to run along the gutter rather than down the middle of the house. The design had to be amended and then approved before submitting to apply for city permits and DTE approval. Shots of the approved design are shown and were submitted for permit approval along with full specifications.
After we approved the design, the first thing that held up progress was our permits. Yellowlite was all inclusive for us and the permits costs were included in the purchase cost. The city permits went through rather smoothly even with the Christmas and New Year holiday. However, the DTE permits caused some problems. On our behalf, Yellowlite manually filled out permit paperwork, submitted design, wrote a check and mailed everything to DTE. A couple weeks later, I get a call from DTE stating that they no longer accept manual paperwork and that solar applications need to be submitted electronically. I call DTE to get clarification on what was needed and then followed up with my Yellowlite Interconnection Coordinator. I was sent the design plans to submit electronically via the DTE website solar permit application and had to fill out specific information Yellowlite provided to me. Once the application was complete, I had to email copies to my coordinator along with a one page permit payment stub for Yellowlite to send in the permit fee. At that point we thought it was just a brief wait for approval. By this time we are into the first week of January and the very cold temps. I was informed that panel install could only occur when temperatures were above 30°F but we were still waiting on DTE permits. Another 10 days go by and I receive another call from DTE saying they couldn't process my application. This is because they had both a manual and electronic application with two checks and they can't proceed until they know what check to cash. I had to call Yellowlite again to follow up. This took just a couple of days and we were finally approved then it was a wait on the weather...
On January 29, 2018 I got the call they wanted to schedule this week, weather permitting, and we would be contacted by our sub-contracted installer Strawberry Solar. The next day the installer called and scheduled a 10 am start on January 31st and continue through February 1st. They showed up as planned albeit about an hour late and began install. Rails were installed and wiring ran. The next day panels were installed and the electrician came to install the bidirectional meter and connect to the electrical panel. Now we wait for the city inspector and the DTE inspection and for the panels to be turned on. We also have to get instructions on the monitoring application and then we will be good to go! Here are some photos of the install...
Very impressive. Congrats !!
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