Desperately needs advice. PG&E is requiring to relocate and upgrade main panel for Solar panels + PowerWalls

[jboy210]

Is this a really new requirement from PG&E? Our electric meter panel which looks like the OPs is 8 inches from the gas line running into the house, and 20 inches from the gas line coming up from underground into the gas meter. We passed all inspections in August 2020.

 

[wwhitney]

"PG&E not longer allows “like for like” panel swap outs in the same location if we are installation a PowerWall. The reason for this is due to the Powerwall also requiring to install additional equipment that will need the conduit to run over the gas."

Based on this wording, it seems the problem is not the "like for like" but the new conduit that would be installed in the prohibited zone around the gas meter. In which case the install could possibly be done with more care without new exterior conduit, depending on what is on the interior side of the wall at the electrical meter location, or by opening the wall and installing the new conduit within the wall. Maybe Tesla doesn't want to deal with the complexity of that approach.


Cheers, Wayne

 

[wwhitney]

Is this a really new requirement from PG&E? Our electric meter panel which looks like the OPs is 8 inches from the gas line running into the house, and 20 inches from the gas line coming up from underground into the gas meter. We passed all inspections in August 2020.

If I recall the exclusion zone is 36" on either side of the gas riser from the ground. If no additional electrical equipment or conduit was placed within this zone, then there's no issue. If something new was placed in this zone, then the inspector(s) missed the violation of PG&E's requirements.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[h2ofun]

If I recall the exclusion zone is 36" on either side of the gas riser from the ground. If no additional electrical equipment or conduit was placed within this zone, then there's no issue. If something new was placed in this zone, then the inspector(s) missed the violation of PG&E's requirements.

Cheers, Wayne

If one were to sell a home and a whole house inspection caught this, could get interesting.

 

[holeydonut]

If I recall the exclusion zone is 36" on either side of the gas riser from the ground. If no additional electrical equipment or conduit was placed within this zone, then there's no issue. If something new was placed in this zone, then the inspector(s) missed the violation of PG&E's requirements.

Cheers, Wayne

@Wildbill ... do you know where Tesla was planning to put your Powerwall(s)? Are the batteries going to be mounted on the wall opposite of what we can see in the photo (basically behind the MSP and gas riser)? Or maybe they're running conduit from the Gateway back across the area you show in the photo resulting in conduit entering the exclusion zone?

 

[Vines]

I have not heard of this from PGE, they still accept like for like swaps. The company I work for does them regularly.

I agree with @wwhitney that likely the added complexity of avoiding the service swap isn't something Tesla is interested in dealing with. Other firms like where I work might be able to do more, but will not be as cheap as Tesla. Likely cheaper than the cost of install plus MPU though

I have to ask though, do you really need a Service swap? What does the sticker on the inside of that panel say? I think its likely that you could live with a partial backup situation, perhaps with the GW fed from a 100A breaker in your MSP. It depends on what your load calculations look like. If you need that large of a PV system, you might need more than I assume.

Since I see the gas vent is plumbed outside the enclosure I don't see a massive risk. If there was a gas overpressure event the gas wouldn't be easily mixing with spark generating equipment if the door is closed.