Yesterday the electricians connected the circuit between the solar panels and our main PG&E feed. When the complete system is up and running, power from the solar panels will feed into the same circuit that carries our PG&E power.  In order to make the connection, we had to turn off our PG&E feed, start our diesel generator, and then pull the main disconnect switch.  While the electricians worked on the (now "cold") PG&E side of the switch, our  automatic transfer switch fed generator power to the building.



(The diesel generator is noisy, hence the ear protection the electricians are wearing in the photo.)

This is a delicate operation, and Chief Engineer Joe Talbot was on hand to make sure we didn't lose power and go off the air.  Fortunately, Joe reports, "It was flawless and took less time than expected."

With this work completed, there will be no future interruptions to our PG&E service when the two solar systems are placed on line.

And in other good news, work on the SolFocus system is scheduled to resume next week.