Brian;
I think you laid out the challenges quite well. Keep firefighters safe,
but don't pose unrealistic constraints on PV systems.
You also mention "true accessibility" -- which is a big issue here.
I learned on the first day of class in FF1 Academy from our FDNY
instructor (a real hard-ass) that "firefighting is 200 years of
tradition, unhampered by progress," and how he wanted to change that, to
make firefighters learn new tactics, try new gear, to think things
through to the end result....no injuries or deaths, and maybe even save
the structure.
I also learned, at about the same time, from the top magazine in the
business... that "guerrilla solar" was really cool. We'll show those
government and utility folks a thing or two. (Damn, I wish I had got one
of those T-shirts....I missed out.) Obviously, that didn't turn out to
be the way to go either.
Thus the dichotomy here.
Are there other ways to ventilate buildings and quickly knock down a
room and contents fire, besides vertical ventilation through the roof
timed precisely with a water fog inside? Yes....a variety of options, IF
proper knowledge and training and equipment are in place. Does your fire
dept. have all that?
Are there easy steps that PV system designers and installers can take to
make their PV installations "firefighter-friendly"? Yes...and they don't
need giant sidewalks of asphalt roofing between each PV module.
Actually, some succinct signage can solve many issues. And PV
module-level isolation with micro-inverters or shade-mitigation boxes is
a fairly big deal---I'll cut into an 18 volt PV module with my carbide
chainsaw any day. I just don't want to cut into that 600 VDC string...
More info on this is coming soon, from a variety of channels: wrench,
nerd, governmental and firefighter. Stay tuned. If you see something
pending ( a new rule, code etc.) that doesn't seem right or would
greatly impact your business, make your voice heard! This is all new
territory, for everyone involved.
DAN FINK
Buckville Energy Consulting
http://www.buckville.com/
danf...@buckville.com
Brian Sipp wrote:
Dan, let me start by saying that I am not trying to attack you here and that
I do appreciate the valuable and dangerous job that fire fighters have.
However, this issue is of great concern to me when it comes to the majority
of residential PV systems.
Since this is a residential, trussed roof, installation; I imagine that the
north slope of this roof will be untouched. Also, since we are talking
about 12 modules, I would be willing to bet there are also other roof
surfaces that are less ideal for solar and will not be covered with PV
either. If pathways are included on this roof, it will go from a modest 2kW
system to an unreasonably small 1kW or less. At that point, the project
will probably not even happen.
I am very concerned that the AHJ's are going to start killing residential PV
projects with the assumption that any surface that has modules needs 3'
walkways. Right now most of the AHJ's are telling me that their setbacks
are simply advisory and can be waived. However, many have also told me that
the those setbacks will soon be mandatory. If that is the case, I would
have to turn away approx. half of my clients because we are only covering
one ideal section of roof out of many possible access points.
Would a reasonable fire department really let a house burn because one
section of the roof was covered with PV but the rest was clear? I
appreciate the difficult job that fire fighters have and I want to make
their jobs as safe as possible. However, I have heard a lot of alarming
talk lately about "letting it burn" and "too dangerous to fight" when in
fact there are many alternative access and vent points in most pitched roof,
residential installations. This sort of talk seems to lead the AHJ's to
implement standards without regard to true accessibility.
Is there some way that we can keep fire fighters safe, while at the same
time recognizing that residential solar is unique from the large flat
commercial roofs for the reasons that I mentioned above?
Brian M. Sipp
First Source Solar Systems
www.FirstSourceSolar.com
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