Main Panel Upgrade For Solar

Patrick and kyle share a full look into how to determine if a breaker upgrade is necessary for your solar project.

Main panel upgrade for solar.

We covered main panel upgrades in pick my solar live. If your recommended system is larger than your panel box can handle you will likely want to upgrade your panel box. With an electrician s hourly rates at 40 to 100 hour and with the first hour costing 75 to 120 you can expect to spend between 400 and 800 for labor costs. Why do i need an electric panel upgrade.

Two important factors of your home prior to installing a solar system are the main electrical panel of your house and the type of roofing your it has. Two days later john received a call from the same rep and was told that unfortunately the main panel upgrade would be required adding an additional 2 000 to the cost of the. A panel upgrade is simply changing your electrical panel or main service panel found within a painted grey or metal box containing your home s fuses circuit breakers. The cables feeding the main panel from pge are 1 0 guage which i think is no longer up to current codes which call for 2 0 guage for 200a panels.

When i talked with tesla customer service about my project they indicated i would need an upgrade to my main panel and the estimated cost for this was between 12k and 15k due to the trenching. In most jurisdictions a 100 amp panel box will typically allow you to have a max solar system size of around 4 25kw. Hope you don t have to replace your panel but manufactures like seimens make solar ready panels with built in line side taps. What is a panel upgrade.

A 200 amp panel box can support a system size up to around 12 kw which would cover most residential installations. Electrical panel replacement typically takes 8 to 10 hours which includes 200 amp capability a new panel with main breaker and ten circuit breakers labor and all required materials. The biggest cost for most electrical work is labor. In order to keep your system up to code and your family safe a new electric panel upgrade is sometimes.