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<DIV>Hello: </DIV>
<DIV>The reason California instituted the (C46) solar classification 25 years
ago is simple: to resolve these issues. At a point in the past, before the
C46, in order to operate as a 'solar contractor', one needed a license in
the following specialties:</DIV>
<DIV>Plumbing</DIV>
<DIV>Electrical</DIV>
<DIV>Sheet Metal or</DIV>
<DIV>Heating and Air</DIV>
<DIV>Swimming Pool</DIV>
<DIV>Roofing.</DIV>
<DIV>This being a forum dedicated to discussing technical issues, I feel
compelled to restrain my political self.</DIV>
<DIV>A great percentage (>90%) of the problems we are asked
to resolve for stranded adopters have been caused by properly licensed
electricians, roofers and general contractors. This not to say that these
licensed professions are not qualified, but instead that solar is unique... a
separate license is for this trade should be instituted in every jurisdiction.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Patrick A. Redgate</DIV>
<DIV>State license 483280 (C46)</DIV>
<DIV>Ameco Solar, Inc.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 10/15/2010 6:22:07 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
peter.parrish@calsolareng.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Hello
Benn,<BR><BR>I have some pretty strong opinions about this subject but some of
them are<BR>reflections on politics as opposed to sound engineering design and
best<BR>installation practices.<BR><BR>See my comments interspersed
below:<BR><BR>Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President<BR>California Solar
Engineering, Inc.<BR>820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065<BR>CA Lic.
854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26<BR>peter.parrish@calsolareng.com <BR>Ph
323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax
323-258-8885<BR><BR> <BR>________________________________________<BR>From:
re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org<BR>[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org]
On Behalf Of benn kilburn<BR>Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 1:12 PM<BR>To:
Wrenches<BR>Subject: [RE-wrenches] What is a solar
installer...?<BR><BR>Wrenches,<BR>a colleague of mine is looking for feedback
to the following email he<BR>received regarding PV installers and electrical
work. I have responded to<BR>him, however, I am quite interested to hear
this list's response....<BR><BR><BR>LETTER--<BR>'Colleague' - next week
Alberta’s “major municipalities” electrical chief<BR>inspectors
are getting together to talk about issues. One item I have
asked<BR>to put on the agenda is qualifications of solar installers. I
hope to see a<BR>start on forming some type of agreement on is who
is qualified to do what<BR>work on a solar installation and what is
considered electrical work that<BR>only electricians can perform.
<BR><BR>>>> In California, we have two specialty contractor licenses
Solar (C-46)<BR>and Electrical (C-10) and well as the General license (B) --
which are<BR>qualified to install PV systems. I myself am a C-46 but I will
probably step<BR>up to taking the C-10 for political reasons.<BR><BR>There
seems to be courses popping up all over to teach everyman to be
a<BR>solar installer, but what work is clearly reserved
for electricians to do?<BR>The Safety Codes Act speaks to Electrical
Systems, CE (Canadian Electrical)<BR>Code defines electrical installation
and electrical equipment.<BR><BR>>>> Most (but not all) of the
authorities having jurisdiction over PV<BR>installations (here in California
these are City or County Building and<BR>Safety Departments) see PV as just an
electrical system and check plans and<BR>do inspections accordingly. However,
the design and installation of the<BR>racking system is an essential part of
the overall picture. PV systems need<BR>to be attached to properly transfer
the dead and live loads from the PV<BR>array to the major structural elements
of the roof (e.g. rafters) and done<BR>in such a way to preserve
impermeability of water (and snow). In many parts<BR>of CA we get 90 mph
winds, which can transfer substantial loads to the<BR>racking system. Finally,
Fire Departments have begun to analyze PV array<BR>layouts from the
perspective of access to, and movement on, a roof during a<BR>fire. Most of
the racking systems are pre-engineered, and if you follow the<BR>design
guidelines, you should be okay. What I am trying to say is that<BR>proper
mechanical/structural design is important (maybe a 1/3 of the design<BR>and
1/2 the installation) but the manufacturers to a good job of
providing<BR>guidelines for the installers.<BR><BR>>>> Electrical
design is more involved and there are more opportunities to<BR>commit design
errors: PV string sizing, voltage drop and ampacity<BR>calculations, over
current protection, component selection, and grounding.<BR>But here's the
catch: almost all of this material is PV-specific, and very<BR>few
electricians have been educated or trained in this area. They pick it up<BR>as
they go along (poor choice) or take a course specifically in the area of<BR>PV
design and installation (better choice).<BR><BR>>>>Let me make a WAG.
If one were to randomly pick a C-10 electrician out of<BR>the statewide pool
and do the same for a C-46; the C-46 would be better<BR>prepared to design and
install a PV system than the C-10. The overwhelming<BR>majority of residential
installs in CA are done by solar contractors, I am<BR>less sure about small
commercial (say up to 15 kW to 50 kW).<BR> <BR> What I hope we
accomplish is a stance we can take to the EIAA (Electrical<BR>Inspectors
Association of Alberta) conference then to Apprenticeship and<BR>Industry
Training who ultimately enforces who does work in the
trade.<BR><BR>>>> IMHO, the first thing you should look at is a Solar
Contract license --<BR>if you don’t already have one. The second thing is to
make available PV<BR>classes for electrical (or other) contractors. There are
scores of<BR>consultants/instructors in the US that are prepared to provide
this service<BR>on an ad hoc basis. However, an on-going program at a local
college offering<BR>courses on PV as well as other renewable energy
disciplines (e.g. wind)<BR>would be the best long term
solution.<BR> <BR>To me the PV module racking can be done by anyone,
but almost all of the<BR>rest of the installation – from wire pulling
to interconnecting modules,<BR>mounting of the inverters etc falls
clearly into the scope of practice for<BR>electricians.<BR><BR>>>>
You are wrong about that. And the way I know you are wrong is this. We<BR>get
about one call a month from a PV system owner who wants us to take a<BR>look
at their system and fix it. About 1/2 of these calls involve bad<BR>inverters
(a relatively straightforward test and swap out procedure) but<BR>almost all
of the other half involves bad rooftop installations: poor DC<BR>wiring
management, poor grounding of PV modules and racking, poor flashing,<BR>poor
mechanical design and attachment. Leaky roofs represent maybe a 1/4 of<BR>the
total service calls. We rarely find bad wiring down on the
ground.<BR><BR>>>> In my "Hall of Shame" there is a system that were
asked to look at by a<BR>large PV integration company that had sub contracted
out work to a local<BR>electrician. Here is what we found:<BR><BR>(1) The
attachment to the roof was done with L-brackets without flashing
or<BR>caulking (roof was perhaps 3:12).<BR><BR>(2) The racking system was
comprised entirely of strut and galvanized<BR>fasteners.<BR><BR>(3) The module
"clamps" were comprised of galvanized machine bolts with<BR>fender washers.
The bolts were torqued sufficiently to deform the fender<BR>washers. I
wondered to the extent that the "point stresses" were transferred<BR>to the PV
modules and how long the PV modules would last.<BR><BR>(4) The DC wiring lay
on the roof in many places. Modules were grounded but<BR>the strut
wasn't.<BR><BR>(5) The conduit, wiring, component selection and grounding on
the ground<BR>were fine.<BR><BR>So you can see that ALL of the problems with
this particular install had to<BR>do with the PV-specific nature of the design
and installation, and none had<BR>to do with general electrical
work.<BR><BR>One of the bigger players in the industry is saying “its now
getting to be<BR>all plug and play” and anyone can be an
installer.<BR><BR>>>> Big players in what industry? There is a trend
to more integrated<BR>design, but "plug-and-play"? Not yet.
<BR> <BR> Hoping an agreement like this can make it a level
playing field and<BR>consistent across the Province.<BR> <BR> What
are your thoughts?<BR><BR>>>> you've got them.<BR><BR> <BR>BACK
TO ME<BR>my thoughts are similar to the ones above, that the racking alone can
be<BR>installed by any 'properly trained' person. However pretty much
every other<BR>aspect of a PV install directly falls under the scope of an
electrician and<BR>needs to be preformed by a journeyman or apprentice under
the supervision of<BR>a journeyman electrician.<BR><BR>>>> And how do
you propose to insure that Joe Blow is "properly trained"?<BR><BR>>>>
How do you insure an electrician has the PV-specific knowledge
and<BR>training?<BR><BR><BR>the following paragraph is from recent past EIAA
technical conference<BR>minutes.<BR> "Alberta Municipal Affairs (AMA) was
asked (earlier in 2009 by a<BR>Municipality) for an opinion on the Permit
Regulation regarding Homeowner<BR>Permits. The Permit Regulation states a
homeowner may be issued a permit<BR>where the electrical system serves that
dwelling. A photovoltaic system that<BR>is tied to the grid (utility
interactive) serves other than that dwelling.<BR>The response back from AMA
confirmed utility interactive PV systems do serve<BR>other than the dwelling
and as such permit issuers should not be issuing<BR>homeowner permits for
utility interactive PV systems."<BR><BR>>>> I am not sure if the
question is about the requirement for a Contractor<BR>vs Homeowner to pull the
permit., or not. I don’t think owner/builders<BR>should be allowed to install
PV.<BR><BR>My thinking is that this would include the addition of 'plug and
play'<BR>modules/inverters to an existing system as well ...any comments
on this<BR>one?<BR><BR>>>> I wouldn't get too involved with the
ramifications of "plug-and-play"<BR>until it becomes a
reality.<BR><BR>cheers,<BR>benn<BR><BR>DayStar Renewable Energy
Inc. <BR>benn@daystarsolar.ca<BR>780-906-7807 <BR>HAVE A SUNNY
DAY<BR><BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>