• September 7th, 2021
In this podcast, Sean answers 3 questions and then we finish it off with some wise words from Bill Brooks where Bill and Sean discus the purpose of NFPA 855 Standard For The Installation Of Stationary Energy Storage Systems.
To find out more about solar and energy storage or classes with Sean White and Bill Brooks, go to www.solarSEAN.com
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• August 4th, 2021
In this podcast, Sean answers questions about net-metering sustainability, with examples from the most mature PV markets in the US, Hawaii and California and how energy storage solves problems when intermittent renewables are on the grid.
There were some changes in the 2017 NEC, where the requirement to have a temperature adder with conduit in sunlight over a roof were removed, making wire sizing simpler, although wire sizing is arguably the most difficult part of designing a PV system.
Our last topic here has to do with the optimal way to face your PV, given the restrictions of having an east-west facing rooftop. As Jim Morrisoin says, "West is the best!"
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• July 27th, 2021
In this podcast we once again cover questions from you and those like you by popular demand. We will get into the different terminology and how it changed in different versions of the NEC, when we talk about ungrounded, grounded and functionally grounded inverters. We talk about the correct terminology for combining batteries in parallel and differentiate between community solar and community choice aggregation among other things.
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• July 20th, 2021
In this episode, we cover tilting PV modules, and seasonal tilting, why most PV modules at 60 cell and 72 cell modules, net-metering and energy storage.
To find out more about solar and energy storage or to ace any NABCEP exam, go to solarSEAN.com
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• July 12th, 2021
In this podcast, we are going answer questions related to solar and energy storage. The first question is about NABCEP and how they are going about adopting the latest version of the NEC. The next question is about higher power PV modules and are they bigger and more dangerous to install. The last question is about how to deal with and what to do about the possibility of manufacturers going out of business.
To find out more about Solar and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) go to solarSEAN.com
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• June 23rd, 2021
In this podcast we talk about the new UL standard for PV, which replaces UL 1703 for PV with UL 61730, which took place in December of 2020. You can still use UL 1703, just if you come out with a new module design, it needs to comply with UL 61730, which makes things easier, since it is the same test around the world, instead of having a different test for the US and Europe for instance.
We also talk about the new UL 3741 PV Hazard Control Standard, aka the Rapid Shutdown standard, which is another way of complying with 690.12 in the 2020 NEC, so you can perhaps have up to 3 modules in series after shutdown now. Mid Circuit Interrupters (MCI) on every third module maybe all you need for rapid shutdown as long as it is a UL 3741 listed solution. This is big news and a new way to deal with rapid shutdown. An MCI is likely to be a switch that does not do maximum power point tracking (MPPT), or you can have a dc-to-dc converter (optimizer) that does MPPT on a group of 3 PV modules.
To learn more about energy storage, solar, the building codes, the NEC and everything else, go to
www.solarsean.com
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• June 17th, 2021
In this podcast we cover the requirements of the International Fire Code and Energy Storage Systems and sizes of these Energy Storage Systems in the International Fire Code. There are special size requirements as we will learn soon. We were primarily covering the 2018 IFC, the 2021 IFC does not come out yet as of this podcast and even when it does come out it doesn't mean that it’s get adopted right away in your state and so the different sizes of the Energy Storage Systems that we're going to talk about cover from larger than one- and two-family dwellings up to large utility scale systems. Can you get bigger than the utility scale not that I know about, but I'd be interested in your crazy comments? Did you know that ventilation is not required for valve regulated lead acid batteries? That's right ventilation is not required for valve regulated lead acid batteries and you know that now. And also, did you know that the International Fire Code does not apply when you were applying the IRC that's the International Residential Code? And that's for one- and two-family dwellings so the International Fire Code is not supposed to be implemented for one- and two-family dwellings! Look at all this learning that we can do.
To learn more about energy storage, solar, the building codes, the NEC and everything else, go to www.solarsean.com
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• June 9th, 2021
In this podcast we cover the 2021 IRC has not been published yet and which Bill is helping write. We also discuss the relationship with the International Fire Code (IFC) and the International Building Code (IBC). The IRC, IBC and IFC are published by the International Code Council (ICC).
Some of the subjects we cover are vehicle impact protection for Energy Storage Systems (ESS), parking bollards, parking curbs, installation locations, not installed in habitable rooms, habitable room definitions, sheet rock (5/8" gypsum requirements) in relation to ESS which are non-combustible wall requirements, ESS in relationship to garage windows vs. bedroom windows, kWh maximum size per area, 80kWh house maximum, Section 1206.1-1206.9 of IFC, Fire detection, Smoke alarms, California Residential Code (CRC), which copies the IRC, stand-by power, and more!
To learn more about energy storage, solar, the building codes, the NEC and everything else, go to
www.solarsean.com
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• April 21st, 2021
Building Integrated PV (BIPV) has been around forever as far as the solar industry is concerned (4 or 5 decades). It has never taken off like people think. There has always been a lot of hype around BIPV, especially amongst laypeople. Will Tesla change BIPV forever? I would think not, except I will never underestimate a guy that turned a small EV company into the world's most valuable automaker, lands reusable rockets routinely, and can make non-human primates play video games with their thoughts, all things which were considered impossible.
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