Wrenching in L.A. [RE-wrenches]

[Bill Brooks]

Don,

My view of the problem in LA is this:

1. David Freeman, a great solar advocate, bent some of the rules and
procedures on interconnection for his solar program.

2. For the first several years there were no procedures in place to map and
identify locations with PV systems.

3. The IBEW Lineworkers Union (same union as indoor wiremen, but totally
different people) finally got wind of this and got very upset that they were
not properly briefed on the issues (likely as a result of the UL warning in
relation to the SW).

4. The first question they asked was "will these inverters island?" We had a
sit-down meeting where we discussed the capabilities of PV inverters and
explained that they are unable to island. At this meeting a test of Village
Green homes was discussed and the results that would likely come from the
tests.

5. The tests were performed and everything worked as expected. The only
question was why the inverter reenergized after 1.5 minutes instead of 5
minutes. Easy answer--the inverter was built before 5 minutes became the
IEEE standard for PV inverters. California Rule 21 requires 1
minute--everybody happy.

6. Subsequent meeting with union about test results--union boss gets very
confused with all the facts and needs more time to figure the situation out.

7. April lockout notice is sent out and the union then decides that the
lockout will continue until the lineworker procedures are updated to account
for PV systems (this takes time to write and then must be officially adopted
by the union--at official monthly meetings).

8. Then once the rules are written, the lineworkers must be trained in the
new procedures.


That is why we are looking at fall before all this happens. There is
officially no motivation on the part of the union to speed this up. The only
way to speed up at this point would be for a very high ranking union person
to say "enough." However, it is becoming more and more unlikely that this
will happen since the union would lose face if they simply decided tomorrow
that everything is fine.

I really don't see a big union conspiracy here to monopolize residential PV
installations. First of all, they don't even want that business unless it is
a 400-home subdivision. Second, there are some very real personality
conflicts that have developed between the solar program and the union--so
this has gotten personal and that is one reason for the stalling.

Lastly, the union sees the solar program as a high profile program that has
lots of money and they now have the power to hold it hostage for whatever
they think they can get for the hostage. Solar installs are not likely their
goal, but money might be one goal. Workers wages, benefits, etc... these are
the more likely goals of the union. Most of these union folks don't know or
want to know what photovolactics (that was a joke) are other than a pressure
point for the utility.

Unfortunately, it appears that PV is a pawn in a much bigger game.

Bill.

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Loweburg, Offline [mailto:i2p at aol.com]
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 1:59 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: Wrenching in L.A. [RE-wrenches]


In a message dated 06/24/2002 10:50:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
billb at endecon.com writes:


> Is it your understanding that the LADWP thing has to do with getting IBEW
to
> do PV installs? That is not my understanding at all. I would like to know
> what has led you to believe this.
>

Bill, What is your understanding of this?

Best, Don

--
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================