Sherman Oaks, CA · 2021 – 2023 · LADWP / LADBS
Two houses, built to the same drawings, side by side.
A pair of new two-story houses next door to each other in Sherman Oaks, identical in footprint, permitted on the same day and taken to final inspection on the same day. Both on SolarEdge rather than microinverters.
Where two houses are built to the same drawings, the solar design, the roof attachment and the service equipment repeat — which is what let these two run as one job on two addresses.
At a glance
- Houses
- Two, matching
- Footprint
- 38 × 77 ft, two stories
- Permits issued
- Same day, March 2021
- Final inspections
- Same day, January 2023
- Inverter
- SolarEdge HD-Wave
- Per-module electronics
- Power optimizers
- Roof
- Composition shingle
- Utility / AHJ
- LADWP / LADBS
The story
These two houses are next door to each other, and from the street they are the same house twice. The public record says why: both are new two-story homes of the same 38-by-77-foot footprint, both with fire sprinklers throughout, and both building permits were issued on the same day in March 2021. Their pool permits were issued on the same day too.
Solar followed the same pattern. Two electrical permits, one per address. Both houses went to final inspection on the same day in January 2023.
The part worth recording is the equipment, because it is not what we use on most of our Sherman Oaks work. Nearly every other project in this city runs on microinverters — one small inverter per module, mounted under the panel. These two are SolarEdge: a single HD-Wave string inverter on the wall, with a power optimizer on each module feeding it.
Both architectures provide module-level electronics and monitoring, but they convert DC to AC in different places. With microinverters the conversion happens on the roof, once at each module. With optimizers the conversion happens once, on the wall, and the roof carries only the optimizers.
On a pair of matching houses that choice gets made once and installed twice. Same roof pitch, same attachment pattern, same equipment on the same wall of each house, the same commissioning sequence — optimizers paired, inverter activated, monitoring connected — run through twice a few meters apart.
It is the closest thing we have to a controlled comparison, and the useful part is mundane: when the buildings repeat, everything downstream of the drawings repeats too.
How it ran
| March 2021 | Both building permits issued — same day, matching houses |
|---|---|
| November 2021 | Both pool permits issued — same day |
| 2022 | Electrical permits pulled, one per address |
| January 2023 | Both houses taken to final inspection on the same day |
Two houses on their own permits, with the building, pool and inspection dates falling on the same days for both.
What we did
- Installed matching arrays on two adjacent new houses.
- Set a SolarEdge HD-Wave inverter and DC disconnect on the exterior wall of each house.
- Fitted a power optimizer to every module and paired them to the inverter on each house.
- Commissioned and connected monitoring on both systems.
- Took both houses to final inspection on the same day.
System specifications
| Houses | Two matching new two-story homes, 38 × 77 ft |
|---|---|
| Fire protection | NFPA 13-D sprinklers throughout, both houses |
| Inverter | SolarEdge HD-Wave, one per house |
| Per-module electronics | SolarEdge power optimizers |
| Monitoring | SolarEdge, per module |
| Roof | Composition shingle on both |
| Battery | None on either |
| Utility / AHJ | LADWP / LADBS |
Is your project like this one?
- You are building two or more houses to the same drawings.
- You are deciding between microinverters and optimizers.
- You want per-module monitoring but the inverter kept off the roof.
- Your house is new and the solar has to fit the build program.
- Your Sherman Oaks property is served by LADWP, while permits are handled by LADBS.
Cali Energy in Sherman Oaks
Sherman Oaks is inside City of Los Angeles boundaries: permits run through LADBS, interconnection through LADWP.
Two of the houses we worked on here are next door to each other and built to the same drawings, which makes the comparison unusually clean.
This installation is on the Sherman Oaks projects page alongside the others, and what the work covers is set out on the Sherman Oaks service area page.
- License and classifications: CSLB #1032379
- Official reference for this process: LADBS — plan review and permitting
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between microinverters and SolarEdge optimizers?
Both give per-module control and per-module monitoring, so one shaded panel does not drag down the rest. The difference is where the conversion happens. Microinverters convert on the roof, one per module. With SolarEdge, each module has an optimizer and a single string inverter on the wall does the conversion. These two houses are the SolarEdge arrangement; most of our other work in this city uses microinverters.
Do matching houses still need separate solar permits?
Yes. Each address carries its own permit and its own interconnection record, even where the two buildings are identical and next door to each other — these two houses had one electrical permit each. What the repetition simplifies is the coordination: the same design, the same roof attachment pattern and the same commissioning sequence run twice, and both went to final inspection on the same day.
Where does the SolarEdge inverter go?
On an exterior wall, next to the DC disconnect and the service equipment — which is what these photographs show. That is one practical difference from microinverters: there is a piece of equipment at eye level on the side of the house, and where it goes is worth agreeing before installation rather than after.
Does Cali Energy install SolarEdge in Sherman Oaks?
Yes. These two houses run SolarEdge HD-Wave inverters with power optimizers. Most of our other Sherman Oaks projects use Enphase microinverters; which one suits a project comes from the roof, the shading and what the owner wants to see.
What this would look like on your roof
Every number on this page came off a real job in Sherman Oaks, CA — not a brochure. Tell us your utility, your roof and what your bill looks like now, and we will model your own version of it before you commit to anything.
Or call +1 (323) 844-7777 · Cali Energy, Northridge · CSLB #1032379 (B, C-10, C-39) — design, permits, install and electrical under one licensed contractor.
Related
This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.