Our customer Curtis in Virginia is doing it himself, installing his residential 11.3kW array using thirty-six Canadian Solar CS3K 315 Watt Mono-PERC solar panels. He is using the IronRidge mounting system to secure his panels to his roof, two SMA Sunny Boy 5.0-US inverters and smoothing the approval system with his local permitting requirements with EcoDirect’s Solar Design and Permitting Service.

Curtis shares with us photos of his system and he has this to say as about his experience as well: “I wanted to show you my progress. I have had to work mostly on the weekends, and a few hours after getting home from work in the evening.

Just this weekend I finished installing the 19 panels on the WEST side of the house, had already installed the 17 on the East side about a week ago. Of course this included the roof anchors, the 36 optimizers, 2 rooftop communication units, running the wiring temporarily down the side of the house, as well as hoisting and then mounting the panels.

Then I’ll be working on mounting the conduit system/anchors, as well as the Inverters, shut off switch, combiner box and hooking up the wiring.

I filled out the form for the Net Meter application, and thankfully my system was approved for acceptance. Next I will send the final installation notice once the electrician ties into the mains and signs off on the NetMeter notification application. Then it’s all inspected by the city, install the NetMeter, and finally give me permission to connect and activate the system!”