The solar power system generates electricity from sunlight and feeds it into the home and, when there is a surplus, into the Duke Energy grid. It consists of 36 photovoltaic panels across two roof planes, one Enphase microinverter per panel, and an Enphase IQ Gateway that handles monitoring and communications. The system was installed by ProTech Solar.
Panels and Inverters
Twenty-four panels are mounted on the eastern section of the south-facing roof. Twelve more are on the east-facing roof above the garages. Each panel has an Enphase microinverter mounted directly beneath it. The microinverter converts the panel’s DC output to grid-compatible AC and reports its production and health to the gateway independently. Because every panel has its own inverter, a fault in one has no effect on the others, and the system can identify exactly which panel is underperforming.
Grid Connection and Net Metering
Electricity produced by the panels flows first into the home’s electrical system. When production exceeds consumption, the surplus passes outward through the Duke Energy bidirectional meter into the grid. Under the net metering agreement, exported electricity offsets imported electricity at the same per-kilowatt-hour rate — billing reflects only the net difference, plus a fixed $30/month connection fee.
Enphase IQ Gateway
The Enphase IQ Gateway — mounted on the exterior wall behind the Unit B garage — collects production data from all microinverters and relays it to the Enphase cloud monitoring platform. It maintains two communication paths: WiFi through a nearby UniFi access point on the home network, and a built-in cellular modem as a fallback. Power generation is unaffected if the gateway goes offline.
The Home Assistant server pulls production data from the Enphase platform, making solar output visible alongside other home monitoring data.
System Diagram
