REAL GOODS CASE STUDY - Frederick County, MD

Solar: It's not just a "guy thing"

Carolyn Alexander proves installing solar isn’t just a guy thing.

On-the-job training took on new meaning for a young electrical inspector in Frederick County, Md. When he drove up into the mountains of central Maryland to check the rough-in electrical work on Carolyn Alexander’s and B.J. Dunn’s newly built home, the last thing he expected was to be educated … by a woman.

“Not only was I a homeowner doing my own electrical work,” Alexander says. “I was a woman installing my own solar electric system.”

Solar system enlightens electrical inspector.

Alexander and Dunn had to complete much of the construction work on their timber-framed home themselves after their builder skipped town with their money — with only the foundation completed. The daughter of a mechanical engineer, Alexander taught herself how to do the work, got certified with Frederick County, and made all the plumbing and electrical connections.

A 15-year customer of Real Goods with a longtime goal to solarize, the final motivation came when she learned it would cost up to $12,000 just to tie into the grid. She then installed her entire Gaiam Real Goods 2.3kW solar system herself — enlightening the Frederick County inspector in the process. “When he went down to the basement and saw the battery box and inverter, he was totally floored and humbled,” she said, laughing. “He looked like someone had just punched him in the stomach.”

Alexander pulled out her Gaiam Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook and flipped to the code regulations in back to show the inspector that all her work was up to snuff — to which he replied, “Can I borrow that? I don’t even know what I’m looking at.”

Assembly required, but tools and techs make it easy.

Alexander wasn’t sure she knew what she was getting into either when all the solar equipment arrived. But she followed the instructions in the Sourcebook and asked Real Goods technicians, whom she calls “godsends,” lots of questions.

She installed two 10-panel PV arrays in one of the only treeless spots on their 16-acre property. When it came time to install the OutBack inverter that converts the DC power the panels generate to AC, she said all she had to do was “stick it on the wall and hook it up.” Now after the first full year with her system up and running, she says she’s “absolutely tickled” with it.

The Frederick County electrical inspector is tickled, too, and has since become an expert on solar code. When he returned for a final check of Alexander’s electrical connections, not only did he sign off on her permit, but he also commended her achievement. “He said, ‘You’re the only one in the county who has done this, but this is the wave of the future.’”