NY SW installations (was Inverters islanding in L.A.) [RE-wrenches]

[Pagan MacKay]

Hello All,

We agree that homeowners who purchased systems in good faith should be 
held as harmless as reasonably possible from UL’s actions (and Utility 
fall-out).  This was the reason for our WIP program and getting the 
“grandfather” effort initiated and successfully adopted in CA.

NY has created their own requirements that go beyond UL1741 and IEEE 
929.   The original SW went through the costly and time consuming 
additional testing and certification process and was approved for 
installation in NY. To allow for new installations in NY the new SW/GTI 
combination required testing as well. All of the supporting data will be 
delivered to the New York State Public Service Commission within the 
next 10 business days. The timeframe for re-listing the SW (with GTI) is 
then with the PSC; for other manufacturers the PSC has performed this 
service in as little as 2 working days.

In the meantime, we hope the NY Utilities will review the safety data 
and come to the same conclusion as California, and others. This will 
avoid homeowners being forced to go through an intrusive and 
inconvenient upgrade process for no significant increase in safety.

Dealers who have homeowners with existing SW installations in NY are 
requested to register the system online using the "Utility Resolution 
Form" in the UL Information Center at www.traceengineering.com. If NY 
will not accept a “grandfather” solution for existing installations we 
will approach dealers and homeowners with options when the new SW/GTI is 
approved to the NY requirements.

As a side note, we have always been disappointed that NY felt they had 
to create their own standards rather than accept UL1741 and IEEE 929.  
The whole point of a national standard created by a neutral expert 
technical committee was so that we don’t have special testing and 
approval for each location.  We would like to ask everyone to support 
National net metering legislation and national grid interconnection 
standards.

Best,

Pagan

Larry Brown, Sunmountain wrote:
> Pagan,
> While I understand the Trace has sent info to the New York Public 
> Service
> Commission that California utilities have grandfathered in SW inverters 
> that
> were once compliant in a grid-tie application and then lost their UL
> listing, stating that they present no potential hazard.  But the New 
> York
> utilities are not accepting it and have locked out numerous systems from
> selling back to the utility. These are people who put up their money 
> where
> their valves are and are now left hanging with no resolution in sight.  
> It
> is Traces responsibility to either replace these inverters with 
> compliant
> ones or make arrangements for these customers to be able to trade in 
> these
> inverters and get a refund so that they can install inverters that are
> compliant.
> How do you answer your customers questions when they did everything they
> were supposed,to do, the system is inspected and approved  and now they 
> are
> indefinately locked out from selling their excess solar electricity to 
> the
> grid because of equipment that is not considered compliant?
> I would appreciate your reply
> Larry Brown
> Sun Mountain
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pagan MacKay" <pagan.mackay at xantrex.com>
> To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 8:58 PM
> Subject: RE: Inverters islanding in L.A. [RE-wrenches]
> 
> 
> >
> > Hello All,
> >
> > This is a public forum open to many more readers than the members of the
> > list and I don't think we want our comments to be turned into anyone's
> > political agenda. That said, I feel a comment regarding the recent posts
> > about this issue is in order.
> >
> > Here is a clear statement on the SW compliance and anti-islanding issue
> > (already on our SW information web site since December).
> > "Non compliant" inverters (ours or anyone else's) should not be
> > installed under any circumstances.  All SW series inverters manufactured
> > since December 2001, when installed with the GTI accessory, comply with
> > UL1741 and IEEE 929 and are listed by both UL and CSA to those
> > standards.
> >
> > We have even taken the additional step of stopping any installation that
> > was in process as of December 2001 and upgrading the hardware. Many of
> > you have participated in the WIP program designed to ensure homeowners
> > who purchased grid tie systems were minimally effected by the UL alert.
> > We've upgraded SWs, provided free GTIs, paid for all shipping charges
> > and we have compensation available to dealers to defray the cost of
> > taking out already installed equipment and replacing it.
> >
> > Further, we have done extensive testing and supported significant
> > investigation by utility companies to show that older SW series units
> > already in service, while not compliant with latest standards, do not
> > present a material safety hazard and may safely be left in service.
> > This is the conclusion of the California owned utilities among others.
> >
> > The "PV" version of the SW was our first "batteryless" grid connected
> > product in 1998 and 1999.  This product has not been offered since 1999
> > and only a few hundred units were ever produced.  SMUD purchased most of
> > these.  This product was listed to the draft standard of UL1741 which
> > was not harmonized with IEEE 929 and had different voltage, frequency
> > and time thresholds than the new standard which went into effect in
> > November of 2000.
> >
> > I hope this helps clarify...if I can provide further information please
> > contact me.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Pagan
> >
> > Pagan MacKay
> > Xantrex Technology Inc.
> > Distributed Power Markets
> > 360-435-8826 ext. 4070
> > pagan.mackay at xantrex.com
> > www.xantrexREdealer.com
> >
> > - - - -
> > To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> >
> > Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
> >
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> >
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> >
> > Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 

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