blinded by the light?! [RE-wrenches]

[John Berdner]

Wrenches:

The whole reflected light issue is a red herring.
Just fly into LAX and look at the seas of car windows out there in the
parking lots.
Or the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas, etc., etc., etc. 
This has come up before and was shot down every time.

Unfortunately, there is a real issue here that has not been discussed.
The large inverters out there being considered for such projects
typically do not meet the FCC requirements for radiated or conducted
emissions.  These babies are radio stations radiating across a wide
spectrum of frequencies. This is most certainly a violation of Federal
requirements and could very well represent a real "hazard to aerial
navigation".  The guy who designed these inverters is a friend of mine,
a pilot, and he agrees. 

The US industry has ignored FCC part 15 to date choosing instead to
pretend it does not apply to inverters.  This is incorrect and a
dangerous path to choose.  IMHO, installation of one of these systems in
close proximity to an airport demonstrates some pretty questionable
judgment.  If your project if found to be out of compliance the FCC can
require you to cease operation until you can demonstrate that the
product is in compliance.  This is not easy and will be expensive and
time consuming at best.  At worst there could be an incident for which
you will be found liable. Then there are the difficulties sleeping at
night. 

If you have any questions or if I may be of any further assistance,
please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards,

John Berdner

SMA America, Inc.
12438-C Loma Rica Road
Grass Valley, CA  95945
530.273.4595 - Tel
530.274.7271 - Fax



-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Simko [mailto:tom at skylinesolar.com] 
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 08:05 AM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: blinded by the light?! [RE-wrenches]

    No other pilots have commented so I will: PV arrays of any size at
any
airport at any time of day could not possibly be construed as a "hazard
to
aerial navigation" in FAA'ese. Especially at a large commercial airport
with
all the modern nav aids available. Glare on landing can be a problem,
but
its well within the normal range of minor distractions and is dealt with
dailey in normal ops.  In short, claims to the contrary are uninformed
fear
mongering, and pretty funny also!

Tom Simko (flying 32 years)
Skyline Solar

on 3/6/03 1:33 PM, Joel Davidson at joeldavidson at earthlink.net wrote:

> Wait a minute! PV modules absorb light? Well, I'll be darned! That
explains
> why they do what they do!
> 
> On a more serious note, educating customers about PV is an on-going
process
> and an opportunity to create a PV advocate if you treat the prospect's
> questions with respect (and a little unhurtful humor). On the other
hand, if
> concern about reflected light is one of many objections, then it is
> important to smoke out the real hidden objections to PV. In the case
of one
> military airbase, the real objection was one military bigshot with a
control
> problem who did not like PV on "his" base because it was not his idea.
> 
> Graham Owen wrote:
> 
>> Marco,
>> 
>> Do pilots wear their aviation sunglasses for a reason or just for
style?
>> The polished aluminum American Airlines jets are super shiny and
>> reflective and when sitting on an airport taxi-way are probably
>> physically larger than your PV array.  Is the typical landing
approach
>> pattern from the south at this airport?  Do they know that PV modules
>> are designed to absorb as much light as possible and reflect as
little
>> as possible? Do they object to a flat mounted array as a possible
>> option?
>> 
>> Graham
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bill Brooks [mailto:billb at endecon.com]
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 9:34 PM
>> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>> Subject: RE: blinded by the light?! [RE-wrenches]
>> 
>> Marco,
>> 
>> How do they deal with the glare of the reflection off the ocean? They
>> really should do something about that. ;-)
>> 
>> Bill.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mangelsdorf, Marco [mailto:mmangelsdorf at hei.com]
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 9:39 AM
>> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>> Cc: Moore, Pat
>> Subject: blinded by the light?! [RE-wrenches]
>> 
>> Just when you thought you had heard it all....We're trying to confirm
a
>> 25 kW a-Si project at a location which is in close proximity to an
>> airport.  The PV system would be architecturally integrated into this
>> new building and would be a real attention grabber.  Well, some
>> attention that we didn't necessarily want is from the state agency
which
>> has jurisdiction for the land surrounding the airport.  They're
>> concerned that the PV array could pose as a reflective light flight
>> hazard for incoming and outgoing commercial and general aviation
>> aircraft.  How do you fight that?  We've got our friends at BP Solar
on
>> board to assist us as we deal with the "bureaucrats" but any
additional
>> help from you all would he much appreciated.  How can we deal with
this?
>> thanks in advance, marco ProVision Technologies, Inc. Hilo, Hawai'i
>> 
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