Solar on Boat Dock
- Thread starter augie47
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jaggedben
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern California
- Occupation
- Solar and Energy Storage Installer
None that don't already apply to solar systems or boat docks?
Fred B
Senior Member
- Location
- Upstate, NY
- Occupation
- Electrician
How much solar? Those little solar lights or a solar array mounted to the dock?
Up here most docks are not perminant but seasonal, so a solar array would not be in anyway practical.
Haven't considered such an installation, but it would seem to need to be able to comply with requirements for marinas AND with ground mounted solar arrays.
Up here most docks are not perminant but seasonal, so a solar array would not be in anyway practical.
Haven't considered such an installation, but it would seem to need to be able to comply with requirements for marinas AND with ground mounted solar arrays.
Fred B
Senior Member
- Location
- Upstate, NY
- Occupation
- Electrician
Musing out loud. What would create the higher risk in a marina application in event of a failure, DC or AC? That might determine use of micro inverters at the modules running AC back to shore. Or us a central inverter on shore with DC running back to shore.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Do they get rolled up and put away every fall?
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Here, they are picked out of the water with slings and a backhoe or crane and set on nearby land that is above flood plane. Too much risk of serious damage from ice if they are left in place through the winter.Do they get rolled up and put away every fall?
jaggedben
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern California
- Occupation
- Solar and Energy Storage Installer
Ah, okay. Yes, I see potential code conflicts between that requirement and 705.32 as well as 705.(B)4). To make this work you would probably either:
a) have to decide not to enforce 555.3 on any solar circuits.
or
b) find GF devices that are suitable for backfeed per their manufacturer, i.e. not marked line and load. Which is apparently not an easy task.
I don't think the code prohibits DC string solar topology on boat docks, but I agree with the comment above that microinverters would simplify the safety considerations involved.
Depends. is this a private boat dock or in a marina? Every marina I have had boats in the electric meter at the boat, where there is one, is read by the marina, and usage is charged monthly. The boat owner has no direct contact or account with the utility. So an interconnection agreement is not really possible.
Dock space is usually very limited and most harbormasters will not allow things to block the dock. How would you or your neighbor get to their boat if the dock was covered in an array? Now if you had a cover berth maybe the roof could be used. Anyway, a lot of variables in this.
Dock space is usually very limited and most harbormasters will not allow things to block the dock. How would you or your neighbor get to their boat if the dock was covered in an array? Now if you had a cover berth maybe the roof could be used. Anyway, a lot of variables in this.
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