RE and Regulations, both UL and IEEE [RE-wrenches]

[John Raynes]

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IEEE is a maddeningly diverse organization of Electrical Engineers, of all 
stripes.  I've been a member myself since 1980.  Not particularly pro or 
con, mind you, it's just a trade organization.  They have societies that 
host conferences on photovoltaics, for the gurus that invented and continue 
to perfect this stuff.  When did they become our enemy?

Standards processes can be influenced technically.  Standards regularly 
come up for review.  If the inverter manufacturers get together, and make a 
good engineering case (with hard data) for why portions of the IEEE 
standard are counter-productive, the next revision of the standard might 
see some changes.  I'd rather see it done that way than trying to beat the 
IEEE over the head in public, particularly with mostly anecdotal evidence, 
no matter how accurate it may be.

Every industry bellyaches about UL.  But 100 billion or so times a day, 
someone on this planet comes in intimate contact with an electrical 
appliance and doesn't get shocked, burned, or electrocuted.  There's a 
reason for this, it didn't happen by accident.  Sure, their evaluation 
processes are tough, but they work.  I used to design medical sensors that 
are put into people's bodies while connected to grounded patient 
monitors.  Talk about hoops.  Anyway, they have their methodologies, and 
they're pretty technology agnostic about the whole thing.

UL's history is much different than ETL.  UL has always been about public 
safety.  ETL originally was about testing in general.  The 
internationalization of standards efforts a decade ago, now driven by the 
European community, forced major changes at UL.  Now, in the global view, 
they're one of many compliance testing agencies, and ETL has become such an 
agency itself.  It hasn't been this way for that long, and both 
organizations are still adapting to the new realities.  UL's brand name is 
still powerful, though, and they aim to keep it that way, I'm sure.

PV is in the big leagues now.  And major league pitching is harder to 
hit.  I'd could use a few more hits myself...

John Raynes
RE Solar
Sandy UT
www.raynes.com

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