[RE-wrenches] Equipment shortages, long lead times?

[penobscotsolar at midmaine.com]

Here, here Bob-O.
   We, too, have seen no decrease in our off grid market as well. It is
rapidly becoming a specialized field here in Maine.(not talking about
you, Tump) Even our largest competitor is now sending off grid business
to us as they have had too many problems training competent installers
who understand the minutea(?) of battery physiology, proper gen
charging, etc. and just want to do the wam bam straight grid tie
systems. I appreciate NABCEP's (and your) insistence on continuing to
require off grid knowledge in order to be certified. Anything less
would be like certifying a mechanic who only knows about standard
transmissions in transmission repair. Your logic in continuing to
insist on battery based knowledge is important to our field. Thanks.

Daryl



> Hiya Ray,
> In my experience, off-grid is always as steady as it ever was except for
> the Y2K burp. Those of us who know how to design and install for that
> market will always have some work, even in a crappy economy. At NABCEP, we
> take a lot of heat from all the new on-grid only installers who don't see
> or understand the value in learning about battery-based systems. They
> would like us to drop that part of the task analysis entirely from the
> Certification. I, for one, am resisting that insisting that's part of the
> overall trade. I'm concerned that if we certify installers without testing
> for battery knowledge, they will go and install a battery based system
> sooner or later anyway and NABCEP will look like fools if they muck it up.
> Bob-O
>
>
> On Nov 23, 2009, at 10:15 AM, R Ray Walters wrote:
>
>
> Funny, because although Off grid has remained relatively slow compared to
> the crazy GT market, its also been very steady.
>
> Ray
>
> On Nov 23, 2009, at 9:07 AM, Windsun at wind-sun.com wrote:
>
>> Nearly everything so far that we have been seeing shortages in is in
>> off-grid equipment. We have not seen a huge increase or decrease in
>> off-grid, but apparently some of the mfg's decided there would be a big
>> drop. With the exception of a couple of particular models of inverters,
>> we have seen no real shortages in grid tie.
>>
>> ..................................................................................................
>> Northern Arizona Wind & Sun - Electricity From The Sun Since 1979
>> Solar Discussion Forum: http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/
>> ..................................................................................................
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