Single phase inverter location and required disconnects

[philly]

I am working on a small project that is using (3) single phase 6kW inverters. The project is for a small parking cannopy that has solar panels on the roof of the cannopy. In trying to decide how/where to locate the inverters have come across a couple of situations that I wanted to clarify:

1) These single phase inverters have an integral DC and AC disconnect which I believe are combined as one handle on the front of the inverter. Do these internal disconnects and the handle on the outside of the inverter satisfy the requirements of the code? Is it possible in a case like this that the utility will require a seperate AC disconnect beyond what is on the inverter?

The inverter also serves as a combiner box so the source circuits from the arrays wll go directly to the inverter and not through any combiners.

2) Is there a maximum height that these inverters could be mounted on a column? I believe there is somewhere in the NEC which requires a disconnect handle to be no higher than a certain height (I think 6ft something). With that being the case would this mean that the inverter would be limited on how high it could be mounted especially if it had disconnects located on it? This may also be an issue of the utility required AC disconnect if they are o.k. with using the one on the inverter.

On the cannopy where I am installing these there is very limited space to mount these inverters and I really only have 1 steel column avalaible for mounting. I would be ideal if I could mount these on top of one another up the column or mount some near the top of the column but I am concerned about the height requirement. I amy have to build a seperate rack somewhere.

Anyone ever done a similar design that came up with somehting different for mounting?

 

[jaggedben]

1) These single phase inverters have an integral DC and AC disconnect which I believe are combined as one handle on the front of the inverter.

Are you sure? IIRC, SMA integrated disconnects used to be combined AC and DC, but are now only DC. Not that you said you're using SMA, but I can't recall the last time I saw an integrated disco that was both.

Do these internal disconnects and the handle on the outside of the inverter satisfy the requirements of the code?

If the location satisfies the requirements, then the equipment is fine by the code. Whether it will satisfy your AHJ is another question.

Is it possible in a case like this that the utility will require a seperate AC disconnect beyond what is on the inverter?

Yup. Now, I'm assuming you'll be combining the inverter outputs in a load center. If the breaker feeding the load center is accessible to utility personnel, then that might suffice. But you'll have to ask them.

2) Is there a maximum height that these inverters could be mounted on a column? I believe there is somewhere in the NEC which requires a disconnect handle to be no higher than a certain height (I think 6ft something). With that being the case would this mean that the inverter would be limited on how high it could be mounted especially if it had disconnects located on it? This may also be an issue of the utility required AC disconnect if they are o.k. with using the one on the inverter.

I'd say that's all correct, try to meet the 6 ft requirement.

 

[jaggedben]

BTW, 18kW is not a small project, that's definitely medium-sized.