House Generator on a home with solar

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Jshdel23

New User
Location
Napa
Occupation
Electrician
How to connect a generator to a home with a solar grid tied. Would a fused disconnect work if I intercept the ac/inverter side of the solar and go from the utility side/line side of the ATS to the fused disconnect then out to the inverter ac side?
 

Strombea

Senior Member
In this situation you just have to have a genny sub panel that feeds the house loads because you cannot backfeed the solar system. This is very common all you do is feed the line side of the transfer switch from a lug kit or a breaker and then your customer load side in the transfer switch will just feed a separate sub panel, you will have to re-route all circuits
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
In this situation you just have to have a genny sub panel that feeds the house loads because you cannot backfeed the solar system. This is very common all you do is feed the line side of the transfer switch from a lug kit or a breaker and then your customer load side in the transfer switch will just feed a separate sub panel, you will have to re-route all circuits
It may be easier and cheaper to either use a line (supply) side PV connection upstream of the transfer switch with appropriate OCPD or else insert a new main disconnect as service disconnect and PV backfeed point upstream of the ATS and rewire the existing main panel as a subpanel
 

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
If solar is grid tied it should have a disconnect similar to an ATS that cuts out if utility power goes out as they don't want the solar back feeding utility in an outage. So all you have to do is install your Gen ATS after (load side) of Solar inverter utility tie in. No back feed onto solar system. You just won't have solar supplement under an outage situation. There is a system that allows solar and generator but it is rather convoluted hookup comparatively and not all solar or gens are adaptable.
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
If solar is grid tied it should have a disconnect similar to an ATS that cuts out if utility power goes out as they don't want the solar back feeding utility in an outage. So all you have to do is install your Gen ATS after (load side) of Solar inverter utility tie in. No back feed onto solar system. You just won't have solar supplement under an outage situation. There is a system that allows solar and generator but it is rather convoluted hookup comparatively and not all solar or gens are adaptable.
Traditional grid-tied/standalone hybrid systems have required a substantial battery bank as well as more specialized controls for any separate grid-tie-only inverters.
 
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