Balcony solar panels. Sounds like a great idea. Shhhh!

[aggiesal]

7. I found out the hard way ...

5 years ago, I bought a home that was built in 1970.
The Main Electrical Panel (EMP) had an electrical wire from the street hub that could not handle any extra electrical load and the EMP did not have any available slots for the extra solar connections.
I chose to upgrade the panel instead of installing additional auxiliary Electrical Panels.
I needed a ditch dug from the electrical street hub. Luckily it was on my property, so the ditch was only about 40 ft. long. I had a new thicker gauge wire installed to be able to handle the extra electrical load, from the house to the street hub.

All this took about 6 months to complete because it required different contractors to complete each stage and they had to be done in order. Plus the solar panel company had the incorrect panel design so they had to resubmit to proper electrical connections for approval, which took another 6 months to get approval.