Pleasant Valley Way 4.5kW Grid Tied Solar System in Northern Arizona

Pleasant Valley Way Grid Tied String Inverter System


The array and meter socket for the Pleasant Valley Way system, showing the structure that houses the system.

The Pleasant Valley Way system is a Grid Tied System that utilizes a Fronius Primo 5.0-1, 5kW inverter. This system will produce 7,130kWh over the course of a year. The monthly kilowatt hour production is plotted in the graph below.
As can be seen in the picture to the right, there are no obstructions that could cause a shading issue. This is the ideal situation for a string inverter. Wiring the panels in series produces a high voltage output, which can efficiently be inverted to AC by the string inverter. Here, we have two strings of eight panels wired in series.

The Pleasant Valley Way array is 16 panels, tied in 2 strings of 8, to the 2 MPPT inputs of the Fronius Primo string inverter.


It is only necessary to purchase one central inverter for this type of system. The panels are wired in series strings, of an appropriate length, and wired down to the inverter. Higher voltage strings allow for longer runs to the inverter, if necessary.

The Pleasant Valley Way Fronius Primo 5.0-1 was installed inside the large garage, with conduit and wires coming straight down from the panels on the roof. The roof penetration was performed in the eave.

A Grid Tied system, like this, currently costs approximately $11,500.00. After the 30% Federal Tax Credit, and the $1,000.00 State Tax Credit, the initial cost of the system is about $7,000.00. If the electricity rates continue in their current trend, this system will pay for itself in less than 6 years.

At the location of the Pleasant Valley Way system, accounting for equipment inefficiencies, wire loss, typical environmental conditions, and the available solar resource, the kWh production of the the system is plotted, for each month.