How does EnergyUnited small generation interconnection measure system size?

The published limits do not say whether they are measured in alternating or direct current.

EnergyUnited small generation interconnection: tiers, fees and insurance

How the size is measured: not published

The published limits here are stated in kilowatts without saying whether that is the inverter rating in alternating current or the array rating in direct current. On a system near a threshold that decides which band it lands in, so the checker asks the question rather than choosing an answer.

Size bands and what each one obliges

Residential, up to 25 kW Size 0 to 25 kW	The simplified standard covers residential systems of 25 kW or less, single phase. A standard homeowner policy with at least $100,000 per occurrence liability is required, primary for all purposes, held for as long as the generator is interconnected. Note that the net metering rider caps compensation far lower than the standard caps interconnection. Application fee: the standard says $100 residential, the current website says $250. Confirm in writing $100,000 per occurrence homeowner liability, primary for all purposes Isolation device, suitability at the cooperative’s sole discretion Member obtains the AHJ electrical inspection and has it forwarded to the cooperative
Non residential, up to 150 kW Size 25.001 to 150 kW	Comprehensive general liability of at least $300,000 per occurrence is required, primary for all purposes. Systems failing the simplified standard may still be considered after more detailed review. Application fee: the standard says $250 non residential, the current website says $500. Confirm in writing $300,000 per occurrence comprehensive general liability, primary for all purposes Isolation device, suitability at the cooperative’s sole discretion

Residential, up to 25 kW Size 0 to 25 kW

The simplified standard covers residential systems of 25 kW or less, single phase. A standard homeowner policy with at least $100,000 per occurrence liability is required, primary for all purposes, held for as long as the generator is interconnected. Note that the net metering rider caps compensation far lower than the standard caps interconnection.

Application fee: the standard says $100 residential, the current website says $250. Confirm in writing
$100,000 per occurrence homeowner liability, primary for all purposes
Isolation device, suitability at the cooperative’s sole discretion
Member obtains the AHJ electrical inspection and has it forwarded to the cooperative

Non residential, up to 150 kW Size 25.001 to 150 kW

Comprehensive general liability of at least $300,000 per occurrence is required, primary for all purposes. Systems failing the simplified standard may still be considered after more detailed review.

Application fee: the standard says $250 non residential, the current website says $500. Confirm in writing
$300,000 per occurrence comprehensive general liability, primary for all purposes
Isolation device, suitability at the cooperative’s sole discretion

The screens that decide it

Within the net metering rider’s nameplate cap Limit 25 kW.
Rider NM-R caps the nameplate rating at the lesser of the customer’s estimated maximum annual kilowatt demand or 10 kW, rising to 25 kW under Option B for systems after 1 October 2020. Option A closed to new members on 1 April 2024. EnergyUnited’s website states 20 kW residential and 100 kW non residential, which contradicts the filed rider; the rider governs. The demand limb usually binds first.
Circuit level saturation, absolute kW ceiling by circuit voltage
Neither cooperative uses a fifteen percent of line section peak load screen. Both ration each circuit by an absolute kilowatt ceiling keyed to the circuit’s phase to phase voltage: 100 kW on circuits of 20 kV or greater, 60 kW on circuits of 10 kV but less than 20 kV, and 30 kW on circuits below 10 kV. Larger amounts may be allowed on an engineering determination. Queue position is set by the date a completed application is received, so headroom depends on who applied first and cannot be computed from the customer’s own data. A single 100 kW non residential system can exhaust an entire 25 kV circuit’s allowance on its own.
Below the service entrance capacity and within transformer and balance limits
Three facility limits apply and all depend on data the cooperative holds. The generator capacity must be less than the capacity of the cooperative owned secondary, service and service entrance cable at the point of common coupling; it must not overload the transformer or any winding beyond nameplate; and on a three phase transformer it must not create a voltage imbalance of more than 3 percent.

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

Which application fee is current, the $100 and $250 in the standard or the $250 and $500 on the website?
What is the circuit’s phase to phase voltage at this address, and how much of its kilowatt allowance is already taken?
The standard states the impact screen completes within 30 days and an agreement follows within 10 days, but never says whether those are business or calendar days. Which is it?
Is the customer’s estimated maximum annual kilowatt demand above or below the rider cap? That limb usually binds before the kilowatt ceiling does.

Worth knowing before you quote

An approved application is valid for no less and no more than one year after the impact screen completes. Any change to output capacity after approval requires a fresh application and fresh acceptance, so there is no field upsizing. Storage is not named in this standard, unlike Palmetto’s, and no non export pathway is published. Momentary parallel closed transition systems are out of scope. Compensation runs on EnergyUnited’s published avoided cost rate, with energy credited or charged at the moment it flows and no carryover. Option A of the rider, now closed, carried a monthly standby charge of $2.70 per kW of nameplate.

Source

EnergyUnited Standard for Interconnecting Small Generation 150 kW or Less with Electric Power Systems, with Net Metering Rider NM-R, Docket No. EC-82 Sub 25, approved 18 January 2024 and effective 1 April 2024

Read and recorded 2026-09-12. Rural electric cooperative, outside the North Carolina interconnection standard. The cooperative's own published documents govern. The interconnection standard carries no printed revision date; its file metadata dates it to 2018, and its published fees are contradicted by the current website. The rider is dated and filed with the Commission.

All North Carolina interconnection rules

Size bands and what each one obliges

The screens that decide it

Ask the utility this, before you sell it

Worth knowing before you quote

What to do with this