The system is built on what they call a ground-mount structure. In other words, it isn't on our roof. The entire thing is supported by eight columns. The county decided we needed over a cubic yard of concrete under each column. By the time we did the math and the realities of digging holes (hint: contractors don't use Solidworks to dig holes), the average footing worked out to about 8000 lbs of concrete.

Once the plan checker got his mind set to these dimensions it was over. There was no way to convince him to apply any kind of logic to it. He quoted stuff like the 200 mile per our wind rating (also ridiculous) we had to certify the structure for. I even hired a nationwide civil engineering firm to try to apply pressure for a change. No. he would not allow us to proceed unless we went with his requirements.

It went beyond that, they issued insane fire rating requirements for the entire thing. My guess is that the project went $50K over budget because of these guys. Which means it will never pay for itself...ever. I would have done a million times better if I burned half the cash and put the rest on Bitcoin (which, at the time, would have felt like burning it).

So, it is a beautiful system but it was a complete waste of time and money. It made me wonder about the overall realities of solar in practice. If I knew then what I know now I would have never moved one finger to install solar.

BTW, I have neighbors with solar regrets for different reasons. One has to wonder.