I just asked a guy I know in utility metering, and he confirms that
there's no basis for the utility's concern. Their claim that backfeeding
is a safety hazard could be an attempt to dissuade some non-PV folks
from flipping their meters to steal power. Or that could be their
justification to charge the customer for the new electronic meter (some
utilities do this, apparently).
As an anti-theft precaution, some mechanical meters don't actually spin
backwards- so whether you're importing or exporting a 1kW, after an hour
your counter has ticked up by one. So just because it's a mechanical
meter doesn't mean that you should necessary leave it running until the
utility installs that bidirectional electronic meter.
On 2011/8/12 9:45, Kirk Herander wrote:
Hello,
I am now in a debate with the metering dept. of a local utility. They
don’t want a PV system to be energized and tested until a bidirectional
electronic meter is installed. They insist that an old plain Jane
mechanical meter can be damaged and is a safety concern if power is
pushed through it (its running backwards) to the grid. I have never
heard of, witnessed, or been told this by any utility or AHJ inspector
until now. Have any of you ever?
I don’t know the reason for their paranoia. I assume that many utility
districts don’t to this day install bidirectional electronic meters. And
rely on the original mechanical meter to count backwards reliably and
safely.
Kirk Herander
VT Solar, LLC
dba Vermont Solar Engineering
NABCEP^TM Certified installer Charter Member
NYSERDA-eligible Installer
VT RE Incentive Program Partner
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