[RE-wrenches] Target fire

Mon Oct 18 13:12:34 PDT 2010

Andrew,

The General/Prime Contractor on the job was SunPower vis a vis Powerlight.
As per standard operating procedures there, the actual installation was
subbed out. I don't recall which subs they used on this job, but there was
more than one. Per their normal routine, one sub installs the racking,
modules, and wiring from the modules to the combiners. This sub can have any
one of several different license classifications. They use an electrical sub
to install the combiners, homeruns, inverters, interconnection. The
electrical sub is responsible for terminations.

Although I wasn't onsite to inspect the charcoal, I believe there were
multiple shorts, not just the separated coupling in the homerun. I suspect
there was at least one ground-fault in the array prior to whatever happened
at the coupling. If this was the case, then BOTH SUBCONTRACTORS FAILED. They
are both at least partially responsible for what happened there.

I have seen the racking system that was used on the Bakersfield project. The
vintage used there had SEVERE problems with wire management. Absolute crap!
Ground faults are common with that racking system. I have personally
witnessed a system running with 8 amps of current on the ground using the
same racking system. This was NOT on the Bakersfield site. Although I wasn't
permitted to troubleshoot the problem, I was told that they had been chasing
the ghost for several months. Ever since the initial installation. I have it
from reliable sources that this condition is common and a known flaw in the
design. At that time, their philosophy was that a ground fault is acceptable
as long as there isn't enough current to trip the inverter offline. Central
inverters commonly have up to a 10 amp GFP, so you can have one or more
strings directly shorted and keep running. 

The concept that they kept installing systems with a known flaw like this is
beyond acceptable. SunPower ultimately bears the greatest share of
responsibility here. I do not know whether they have corrected the crappy
wire management in that racking system since then or not. I certainly hope
they have either corrected it or stopped using the system altogether. 

A comprehensive commissioning process would identify these problems and
prevent the system from being placed into service. A visual inspection is
the beginning of any commissioning process. As I said, I have seen these
systems and they ain't pretty. Any schmuck can easily see numerous wires
pulled across sharp-edges of sheet metal at various points throughout the
array. Fail #1. Megger output jumpers... Fail #2.

The concept that any building department has signed one of these systems off
at all is mind-boggling. Another thing I find interesting... There was no
mention of this condition in the fire investigation report. Only a
recommendation to megger the remaining wires. What's up with that? How is it
that so many of these systems have been installed and passed inspection? How
many have caught fire that we haven't heard about? You know... Just a little
fire.

I would LOVE to know how much downtime has been logged because of this
dangerous problem. And how much money has been spent troubleshooting and
"fixing" faults caused by this problem. And how many "technicians" have been
shocked during installation or service? One thing I can guarantee you...
Unless you work inside the bowels of SunPower or this information comes out
in a lawsuit somewhere, we will never know. Maybe WikiLeaks will have
something on this someday. But I'm not holding my breath.

For the record, I'm not a SunPower hater. I do hate crappy workmanship. I
hate the practice of covering up crappy workmanship even more. You see, when
you cover it up, it's just gonna keep happening. At least until somebody
calls you on it.

$0.02001

Solar Janitor

  _____  

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Truitt
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 12:04 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Target fire

Thanks William.  That is the first place I looked but I didn't see it in
there.  But I love all the resources on your website!

- Andrew

On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 12:47 PM, William Miller <william at millersolar.com>
wrote:

Andrew:

It may be in the report:
http://mpandc.com/practices/Safety/safety_data.html

William 

At 11:30 AM 10/18/2010, you wrote:

Does anyone know who installed the infamous Bakersfield Target job?

Andrew Truitt
NABCEP Certified PV InstallerT (ID# 032407-66)
Truitt Renewable Energy Consulting
(202) 486-7507
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713

"Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion
to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor
safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could
ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!"

~William McDonough

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Please note new e-mail address and domain:

William Miller 
Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: william at millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com <http://millersolar.com/> 
License No. C-10-773985

____________________________________

Andrew Truitt
NABCEP Certified PV InstallerT (ID# 032407-66)
Truitt Renewable Energy Consulting
(202) 486-7507
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-
<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713> truitt/8/622/713

"Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion
to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor
safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could
ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!"

~William McDonough

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