(2) 1600 amp switches were installed off the inverters,(480V system) and tied into the utility grid, It passed inspection from the City, but the utility engineer will not sign off on the as built drawings saying the switch is service equipment and has to be GFCI protected as per NEC Article 230.95. Should it be treated as SERVICE EQUIPMENT. YES/NO
Take a look at 705.12, in particular (D)(3). The 2011 code still leaves some ambiguity, IMHO, about what applies when the inverter output connection is directly to the service wiring (line or supply side tap) rather than downstream of a main breaker which also supplies local loads.
Since the purpose of GFP in a service disconnect/OCPD is to detect a ground fault in the load equipment and wiring, it does not seem to apply here at all.
Any fault that caused ground current to flow would be on the inverter side of the disconnect and would not show up through a GFP at that connection point unless somehow the inverter output wiring partially shorted out and so drew current from POCO which did not return via the neutral when the inverters were not operating.
(BTW, the statement in 690 that a disconnect need not be service rated applies only to the DC side disconnect, not to the AC side disconnect.)
Also, in my personal opinion,
specifically not my interpretation of the code, a connection between the (aggregated) inverter output and POCO would be subject to the same high magnitude, poorly protected, fault current from the POCO side in the event of a bolted fault as could occur in a standard load-only service and so using only SUSE equipment and following some if not all of the rules regarding service connections does seem to make sense.
