Michael:
The SW inverters were first approved for grid-tie as originally
designed. Then the CEC pulled the listing because re-testing revealed some
borderline results. It was rumored that the only competing grid-tie
company at the time blew the whistle. It was a big deal at the time with
many SW projects in the pipeline.
Xantrex scrambled to remedy the situation and created the GTI. Many SW
inverters were removed from walls and sent to Arlington to be refitted for
GTI interfaces. An internal board was changed and the outboard interface
provided. The CSI home page has a photo of an SW inverter with a
GTI: http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/erprebate/equipment.html The
list of eligible equipment says right on it, "with GTI." So one
theoretically should not be able to obtain a utility agreement without a
GTI, but we received one about two weeks ago. go figure.
Please, wrenches, keep this under your hats.
William Miller
At 09:47 AM 3/26/2009, you wrote:
Hi William. The SW's own roadblock got removed many years ago. I got PG&E
to approve SW serial number 00011 (as I recall) for an installation in
Arcata in a non-net-billing intertie. This was brand new to them, and as
far as I know the only other SWs running in CA were off-grid betas, and
one guerrilla.
At the time, they wanted the certificate of compliance to prove it would
not island, and it required a fair amount of back and forth with Trace
engineers. (Now those guys are with other companies we know and love.) I
think that eventually, they actually did their own testing on that model
in San Ramon.
But I thought the CEC listing service was supposed to supercede all that.
At least that is what it took for my OutBack inverter to be approved for
intertie a few years back. Is the XW not listed with the CEC?
BTW, I sold a SW2512 on eBay in '05 for $1,136. There are two SW4024s on
eBay right now, no bids yet.
William Miller wrote at 11:12 PM 3/25/2009:
>2. We have an application to the local utility (PG&E) pending for a
three XW installation with a motor-generator. We have received multiple
communications from PG&E doubting the acceptability of the XW system for
use as a gird-tied battery-back up system. We are hoping that PG&E
accepts the listings from the various agencies and approves the project.
>
>Interesting that the old, non-complaint system receives swift approval
but the latest and greatest gear hits a regulatory road block! We'll
keep you posted.
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