ACHS Solar Project - Day 1

So now it is Wednesday, the first day of the ACHS installation. This time, I didn't wait to call for some extra manual labor. I thought of Macgyver first, since he is on the football team and would be good with the heavy lifting! Then, Jacob. He is a real "go-getter". Nothing against the girls, but there was a lot of heavy objects and I needed the biggest bang for my buck! They met me at school at 9:00. I drove us (me, Jacob, and Macgyver) down to the Maintenance garage where all the materials were delivered. While we were unpacking and loading the trailer, Dave was scoping out the roof for the best placement of the array. Yes, I would love to have them on the front of the roof, but it is really more important to be close to the maintenance room where we will make connections. See, if you run electrical lines too far, a voltage drop will be experienced....and we need as much voltage as possilble so that we produce as much power as possible! Power=Volts x Amps!

I found out from Lowe's that their computer was messed up and they could not get us any more 4" x 8" blocks. Hubbard's had the right blocks and agreed to deliver them late Tuesday. Well, I went by to check on the delivery, and good thing I did. They delivered 8" x 8" blocks! So, I called Jeff at Hubbard's this morning to get this corrected because it would hold up the installation if we did not have the blocks Wednesday morning. And I definitely wanted Macgyver and Jacob there to help get blocks on the roof.

At 6:30 this morning I called Hubbard's. Jeff brought the blocks over around 9:00 (perfect timing). He was very helpful because he had a lift that helped get the pallet of blocks up to the awning over the cafeteria. We then carried the blocks over the edge of the building to the job site. Since Jeff was such a nice guy, he agreed to lift the heavy panels up to the awning, too! Thank you, Jeff! After all the heavy lifting was complete, I let Jacob and Macgyver go. I finished up the conduit and wiring, while Dave mounted the inverter box in the Maintenance room.

At the end of the day, we had built the racking system, installed the panels, run the rack's ground wire, bent and secured conduit (to the edge of the roof). Tomorrow looks like mostly electrical hook-ups and testing! Can't wait!