New service, how to prep for future solar?

[brantmacga]

If you want more margin in a 200A panel using the solar at the opposite end of the bus, pick a panel with a 225A bus. This give you more margin over the 40A limit for solar on a 200A bus. Finding which panels have a 225A bus can be harder now, as the panel rating tends to be the breaker rating. But I think Eaton CH are 225 and some of the QO's are 225. In the end, 225 -vs 200 should cost about the same, so get the bigger one.

I've got a 225A QO. I did see the 120% rule on that.

 

[redtruck]

No just to the attic. The service equipment will be difficult to access one construction is complete. I was going to run some conduit from this trough up to a more accessible spot in my attic.

I see, still if this conduit is simply to house the conductors from the PV array to the equipment in the garage I think 2" sounds excessive. Only reason I see to go that big is if you are really afraid the wire pull may be difficult because of many bends or a long conduit run to the attic.

Additionally if your PV system is large, say more than 5 strings of panels or so then the presence of that many conductors in that conduit will require de-rating of the conductors so significant that a second conduit may become necessary(NEC 310.15(C)(1)) . Hard to say for sure until you know more like everyone else is saying but if you need to run conduit now you may benefit from 2 smaller pipes rather than one large one.

It's not too often I see a residence requiring more than 1 - 1" conduit up to the PV array but perhaps you are building a larger system than average, and an extra conduit won't hurt anything.

 

[solarken]

I appreciate your response, all good info to know right now.

I have two systems in mind at the moment. Either the Schneider Pulse or Generac PWRCell 2. I have been speaking with Schneider already about some of their products I'll have in my house when it's finished, and it would integrate seamlessly with their Pulse Backup Controller. What they don't have is generator integration. There's a spot for it to land in their panel, but it doesn't do anything. They are releasing a new energy management software later this year, but couldn't say if the generator support would be part of it.

PWRCell 2 integrates battery, PV, and generator in one controller. I know they had some issues with V1, but V2 looks very interesting.

AInterestin I have not seen much about the PWRcell 2 and have not installed this newer system, but I am a generac dealer and have done a lot of repair/service work on the previous generations of Generac PWRcell systems. I could not find an installation manual for the PWRcell 2 system in the installer resource area on Generac website, but based on what I can see there is no PV support for the new PWRcell inverter. It basically looks to be an inverter for the battery storage, and it seems they assume a separate AC-coupled PV system will provide the PV production. One positive, no more nightmares dealing with the SnapRS devices.
The Schneider XW Pro was a really awesome off-grid inverter. Hopefully Schneider is going to be successful with this new system. It looks like the inverter is only 7.7kW, too small for my typical customer.