California Fires and PV [RE-wrenches]

[mlafferty at universalenergies.com]

Joel D wrote:

>  The PV system was working fine because neighborhood power was
restored by hard-working Southern California Edison crews.

Joel,

Thanks for clarifying that so quickly!  My response to your original
post would NOT have been so "paranoid" sounding if this sentence had
been included there.  My hat is and always has been, off to the Guys and
Gals that work their butts off to restore power and other necessary
infrastructure after disasters.

I left something out of my original response, as well.... The news that
the PV system was working is a fine and encouraging testament.
Congratulations to you and the homeowner!

All:

I hope it was clear in my message that I was posing as "Devil's
Advocate", as opposed to actually being "The Devil".  I admit it may
have sounded paranoid and overly critical.  It was intended to.

I don't "come from" the same place the, as Matt T says, "Dark Side"
does.... I do know where they are coming from..... It's a paranoid and
overly critical place... In my opinion, with regard to Utilities, PV and
inverter based RE, it is feigned and fantasy at this point.  A position
they maintain so they can feel "in control".  

With thousands and thousands of units deployed across the country in the
last 5 years, they still can't point to any "negative" safety or
operational related incidents to my knowledge.  

The only "negatives" that I can think of, stem from their own inability
to effectively and efficiently handle "their side" of it.... Things like
billing, paperwork, engineering, inspections.... Following "the rules"
primarily... Administrative and procedural things.... These "negatives"
are self-imposed due to their own internal structures, culture, and
processes.  Oh, they also don't "like" the fact that Net-Metering was
legislatively imposed on them, thereby forcing them to do something that
is counter to their "control" culture.

The lack of ACTUAL negative safety and operational incidents is a strong
testament to the equipment we have today.  Nevertheless, the people
charged with managing, protecting, and controlling the technical and
physical aspects of the grid (Wires, Transformers, Protection Equipment,
Generation, The Electricity Supply itself stuff....) are loathe to look
at a little 2KW, IEEE & UL Compliant Inverter as anything other than a
"Generator".... 

Generators, to them, have "moving parts", "rotating machinery",
"oscillations" (they don't admit that one)... They have very complex
protection control systems (so do our inverters!)... They require fuel
to operate.  They are dispatchable and can come on or off line with a
flip of the switch.  They have Multi-MW capacity, day or night.  The
power is purchased and sold via an infrastructure of contracts, credits
and billing.  They know how to deal with them.  Well, not in Ohio, but
that's not what this is about.... ;-)

To them, the little red, white or white and gray box hanging on the wall
is just the same, but different.... They can't flip the switch and
expect it to dispatch at full capacity within seconds, especially at
night.... They aren't the "wholesale buyer" who gets it first and in
turn, re-sells it at a profit, to the "customer".... But they want to
require all the same "standard utility protection devices", including
"visible-lockable disconnects" which we are all familiar with, but also
so many other things.  Things which are built into the anti-islanding
controls of the inverters, but aren't made by GE & Westinghouse....
Brands they know.  These are chips and relays and sensors, not large
boxes or rooms full of boards with exotic gas-filled contact
enclosures....

They don't need to be!  It's 240 volts and like 15 amps!  Not 121 KV and
100 MW!  Herin lies the Devil.  They want it "their way" because that's
what they know.  Like most humans, change in one's embedded thinking and
perspective does not come easily, they just don't want to have to change
their thinking or how they "do things".  

When it comes to things like siting a wind turbine, or PV for that
matter, the same paranoid overly-critical thought processes are in
place... Either in a neighborhood association, City/County Planning, or
other local group or agency.  Fear and control.  Fear over not being in
control.  Fear of the "unknown".  Fear of "what it will look like from
my backyard".... Fear of.... Well, the list goes on.

Yes, California has finally attempted to address a portion of this issue
via legislation.  That is being tested right now, in various areas
around the state.  There are many "miles to go before we rest" on this
one... Again, change does not come easily and everybody has their own
interpretation of "the law", if they even know it exists.

Witness medical marijuana, for example.  Not because it's related to RE,
because it's an example of varying interpretations.  The difference with
RE is that there are far more neighborhood associations, municipalites,
and neighbors in general than there are County DA's and State and Fed
AG's.  If the relative few can't achieve consensus on a highly
publicized issue after this many years and court cases, how long and far
will we have to go to to find consensus in our case?

It is the existence of these types of obstacles, understanding their
depth, and having scars from fighting them that causes my "alarm" to go
off.... Oh, it also causes me to....

Play the Lotto.  Play the Lotto.  PLAY THE LOTTTO!

"Fight on, just be sure to know who you're fighting!"  

Matt Lafferty
Universal Energies Institute
mlafferty at universalenergies.com
(916) 422-9772
(916) 628-7694 Cell
(916) 914-2247 Fax
www.universalenergies.com

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