Atwater Village, CA · February – March 2023 · LADWP / LADBS

Atwater Village: a module broke on the day of the install.

Eighteen modules went up the roof. Seventeen went onto it.

Written by the Cali Energy project team · California contractor license 1032379 · Updated September 2026

A solar module is glass, and glass breaks — a dropped tool, a knock on a frame corner, a microcrack that finally opens. When it happens on installation day the array cannot simply be finished one short: the module count, the positions and the circuits all appear on the approved drawings the inspector checks against. The options are to wait for a replacement or to complete the array with a module already on hand. On this 7.02 kW Atwater Village project Cali Energy completed the array eight days later and took both permits, solar and car charger, to final inspection on the same Saturday.

At a glance

System

7.02 kW

Array

18 Canadian Solar modules, 390 W each

Inverters

One Enphase IQ8+ microinverter per module

Also in scope

A level 2 EV charger, permitted separately

Broken on the day

One module

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

Eighteen Canadian Solar modules at three hundred and ninety watts, an Enphase IQ8+ microinverter behind each, a level 2 car charger, and a flat roof. The crew went out on the Tuesday.

Two things happened that day. The second one is why the array was not finished that week.

The first was the layout. The design had the modules tilted; on the roof it changed to flush, laid flat on the surface, and the revision was issued and approved the same morning. Decisions like that get made on the roof because the roof is where the information is, and the thing that makes them safe is issuing the revised drawing immediately rather than at the end of the week.

The second was that a module broke.

Modules break. They are glass in an aluminum frame, and they are carried up ladders, walked around, set down and clamped. A tool lands on one, a frame corner takes a knock, or a microcrack that has been there since transport finally runs. It is not common and it is not rare.

What is not obvious is why the array cannot simply be finished with seventeen.

The approved drawings state a module count, show where each one sits, and describe the circuits. The inspector checks the installation against that set. An array one module short does not match it, and a microinverter position with nothing on it is a circuit that does not match the single-line diagram either. So the choice is not between finishing and not finishing — it is between two ways of getting to eighteen.

The first is to order a replacement and come back when it lands. That is clean, and it costs whatever the supply chain costs — in a bad month, weeks of an array standing finished and not final.

The second is to complete the array with a module already on hand and let the replacement follow behind it. That is faster, and what it turns on is whether the panel on hand is one the approved design accepts: same make, same model, same rating, same listing. Where it is not, the substitution stops being a panel swap and becomes a drawing revision, with the layout, the clearances and the structural load all back in play.

Here a spare was available, the crew came back eight days later and completed the array with it, and the replacement panel was already on its way.

One more thing that surprises people: the broken module does not just vanish. It has to come off the roof, be accounted for and go back through the supplier or the warranty route. Somebody has to ask the unglamorous question of whether the broken one will still be on site when the crew returns, and on this project it was asked and answered in writing before the return visit.

Both permits reached their final inspections on the same Saturday: the solar and the car charger, which is its own scope and its own permit.

Cali Energy installed, completed and finaled this 7.02 kW array in Atwater Village, Los Angeles.

How it ran

Eight days between an array that was one module short and one that was not.

What we did

• Issued the revised layout the same morning it changed on the roof.
• Completed the array to its approved module count rather than leaving a position empty.
• Returned eight days later, with the replacement panel already on order.
• Accounted for the broken module rather than leaving it on the roof.
• Carried both permits to final inspection on the same day.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• A panel was damaged during your installation.
• Your array is finished except for one position.
• Somebody has offered to substitute a different module.
• Your project includes a car charger and you are unsure about permits.

Cali Energy in Atwater Village

Frequently asked questions

What happens if a solar panel breaks during installation?

The array cannot be completed one short. The approved drawings state the module count, the positions and the circuits, and the inspector checks the installation against them. The choice is between ordering a replacement and returning, or completing the array with a module already on hand.

Can a different panel be substituted for a broken one?

Only within what the approved design accepts — same make, model, rating and listing. A module that looks the same but carries a different model number puts the installation outside the design it was permitted against and the equipment listing behind it, which turns a one-panel problem into a drawing revision.

What happens to the broken module?

It comes off the roof and is accounted for through the supplier or the warranty route. It is worth asking on the day whether the damaged module will still be on site when the crew returns, because a panel that has quietly gone missing is harder to process than one nobody moved.

Does a car charger need its own permit?

It is its own scope, and on this Atwater Village project it was permitted separately from the solar. Both permits then have their own final inspection — here they happened to fall on the same day, which is convenient rather than automatic.

Does Cali Energy install solar in Atwater Village, Los Angeles?

Yes. Atwater Village projects are permitted through LADBS and interconnected through LADWP, and flat and low-slope roofs are common here — which makes the layout decision, tilted or flush, a real one rather than a formality.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

• Two modules went patchy under the glass. Then the claim began North Hollywood, CA · 14.8 kW · module warranty claim Solar
• The contract named a module. The warehouse had a different one Simi Valley, CA · 21 modules · what makes a substitution acceptable Solar
• Seven of thirteen panels went on tilt frames El Sereno, Los Angeles · 5.3 kW · one roof, two mounting decisions Solar
• The charger went on the wall before the car arrived Glendale, CA · hip roof · split array, EV charger wired three years early Solar
• The module changed before anything went up Eagle Rock, Los Angeles · what has to be rechecked when the panel changes Solar
• The wiring under the array had burned Windsor Square, Los Angeles · modules intact · the fault nobody can see Solar

This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.