Grid Tie Inverters (Score 1)

I am an electrical engineer and work out of Milwaukee with a consulting firm and I do handle this grid intertie inverter issue a few times a year from our clients. I want to grid-intertie with a small wind for all the good reasons people do these things. Unfortunately, I have noticed that the prices for a grid intertie LISTED inverter is usually much more than a basic inverter. In order to shave your load, it needs to be UL 508 (for motors) and UL 1741 (for grid-intertie) listed. Older style were just 508 listed for wind generators/controls. A UL 1741 is usually the minimum a utility will accept. Believe it or not, most utilities that I've dealt with have incentive programs to help defray these costs because they are under pressure to DELAY building new power plants and so funding is available, you just have to start local and work outward to the state level and do some homework.