Sean White‘s Solar and Energy Storage Podcast

Net-Metering Sustainability, PV Wire Sizing and East vs. West Facing PV

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!"

 

To find out more, go to solarSEAN.com

Grounded vs. Ungrounded Inverters, Battery Combiner Boxes and Community Solar

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.

 

To find out more about renewable energy, go to solarSEAN.com

Solar PV Seasonal Tilt, 60 & 72-cell PV Modules, Net-Metering with Energy Storage Q&A Podcast

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

Q&A: NABCEP NEC adoption, Higher Power PV modules & Solar Manufacturers Going out of Business

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

New UL PV Listing 61730 replacing UL 1703 for making the test work around the world and UL 3741 listing for Rapid Shutdown (Hazard Control Systems) with Bill Brooks PE

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

International Fire Code (IFC) and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) with Bill Brooks

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

2021 International Residential Code (IRC) and more with Bill Brooks

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

International Residential Code (IRC) and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) with Bill Brooks

In this podcast Bill Brooks covers the International Residential Code from the International Code Council (ICC), which are rules in addition to the NEC for installing ESSs in 1- and 2-family dwellings. Bill Brooks is instrumental in writing the material that we cover and sits on many different panels, such as the UL 9540 standards technical panel, and comes up with the rules. Stay tuned for another podcast where we will cover the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Fire Code (IFC), which are used for other than 1- and 2-family dwellings.

 

We cover here: UL 9540 (umbrella standard), UL 1973, UL 1741, 2018 IRC, 2021 IRC, 2024 IRC insight, LG Chem Battery, Tesla Powerwall, SolarEdge, SMA, BYD, Enphase, Sonnen, Inverters and sub-assemblies, lithium-ion and lead-acid battery preferred applications, using retired EVs to power your house according to the 2018 IRC, NEC 625 Bidirectional EV charging/discharging, battery locations, habitable locations, ventilation, hydrogen and flammable gasses, protection from impact, vehicle approved barriers, parking bollards, parking curbs, and more!

 

Although this podcast's focus is on residential ESS, we do mention some Utility-Scale ESS relationships with UL 9540.

 

To learn more about solar and energy storage, go to www.solarSEAN.com where we have NABCEP classes and all kinds of learning materials.

BIPV and Tesla Solar Glass with Bill Brooks

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. 

 

For more information and education on solar and storage, go to www.solarSEAN.com !

2020 NEC Article 706 Energy Storage Systems

In this podcast we are going to go over NEC 706 with Bill Brooks, thy guy who wrote a lot of this material and was there every step of the way. Sometimes Bill does not agree with what ends up in the NEC and he will let you know it here first on this podcast.

 

To have fun and learn more about solar and storage, go to SolarSEAN.com