My office building added solar panels last month and now half the lights are dimmer

I work on the 4th floor of a mid sized office building downtown. They put up solar panels on the roof about 5 weeks ago. Ever since, the lights on our floor flicker and dim every time the elevator runs or the AC kicks on. Maintenance says it's a "load balancing issue" and they're working on it. But I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this with new solar installs in older buildings. Is this normal or did they mess up the wiring?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessica_dixon2d ago

Oh man, that sounds frustrating. I once tried to fix a flickering lamp in my living room and just ended up shorting out the whole circuit, so I feel your pain. But seriously, their explanation sounds like a polite way of saying they underestimated what the solar setup would do to the old wiring. In my experience, older buildings don't play nice with new solar unless you upgrade the whole electrical panel, not just slap panels on the roof. Take this with a grain of salt because I'm no electrician, but I bet the elevator and AC are pulling way more power than the panels can handle right now. Maintenance might be working on it, but it could take them a while to track down every weak spot in the system.

kai4633d ago

They didn't mess up the wiring, they probably forgot to upgrade your floor's transformer for the extra load.