Re: [RE-wrenches] "Keep that there PV off my grid!"

2011-02-16 Thread R Ray Walters 
FIrst, if they're intertied with the rest of the US grid, they already have 
some of that Pesky wind and solar power on their grid.
Seems to me that just some good old load data would show the PV output would 
never exceed the minimum daytime onsite usage.
I'm guessing you would want to look at weekend afternoons.?
Do you have any long term monitoring data?

I remember these fights from the 90s too.
Quote: " to the pioneers go the arrows, to the settlers go the spoils"
Many on this list have taken an arrow or two for the cause; sorry this is still 
happening in 2011.
My best ammo was putting them in touch with other utilities that have 
experience with PV, and not get mad.
They're usually concerned with lineman safety, so their heart is in the right 
place, though not their brain.

Good Luck,

R. Walters
r...@solarray.com
Solar Engineer




On Feb 16, 2011, at 7:18 AM, Karl Jaeger wrote:

> Thanks guys,
> I had little doubt that the best source of industry knowledge would fail me.
> Keep on keepin’ on,
>  
> Karl Jaeger
> Operations Manager
> LightWave Solar Electric
> www.lightwavesolar.com
>  
>  
>  
>  
> From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org 
> [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jeff 
> Clearwater
> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:00 AM
> To: RE-wrenches
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] "Keep that there PV off my grid!"
>  
> Hi Karl,
> 
> Whether it's worth pursuing or not, I believe their stance is in violation of 
> PURPA.  I'm not an expert but I know others have won court cases over it.  It 
> is left up to the State to administer however I do believe.   DSire.org shows 
> no net metering support in Alabama.  I imagine someone else on the List knows 
> more than I.
> 
> But it sounds in this case like the technical fix is more prudent - 
> Everything has it's season.
> 
> Best of Luck,
> 
> Jeff C.
> Village Power Design
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Greetings Esteemed Wrenches,
>  
> My company was recently tasked to engineer a PV project in Alabama. We sat 
> down for a meeting with all of the local big-shots. They proceeded to let us 
> know that we are not allowed to feed any excess PV power onto their grid, 
> production cannot exceed demand. I am hoping that y’all might be able to 
> steer me towards a contactor assembly or device that would detect reverse 
> current flow, trigger the contactor, then open up the inverter AC output 
> circuit. The service is 3-phase, 208 volt. The maximum current we intend to 
> introduce is 70 amps, continuous.
>  
> Appreciate your advice,
>  
> Karl Jaeger
> Operations Manager
> LightWave Solar Electric
> www.lightwavesolar.com
>  
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Re: [RE-wrenches] "Keep that there PV off my grid!"

2011-02-16 Thread Karl Jaeger 
Thanks guys,
I had little doubt that the best source of industry knowledge would fail me.
Keep on keepin' on,

Karl Jaeger
Operations Manager
LightWave Solar Electric
www.lightwavesolar.com




From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org 
[mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Clearwater
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:00 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] "Keep that there PV off my grid!"

Hi Karl,

Whether it's worth pursuing or not, I believe their stance is in violation of 
PURPA.  I'm not an expert but I know others have won court cases over it.  It 
is left up to the State to administer however I do believe.   DSire.org shows 
no net metering support in Alabama.  I imagine someone else on the List knows 
more than I.

But it sounds in this case like the technical fix is more prudent - Everything 
has it's season.

Best of Luck,

Jeff C.
Village Power Design




Greetings Esteemed Wrenches,

My company was recently tasked to engineer a PV project in Alabama. We sat down 
for a meeting with all of the local big-shots. They proceeded to let us know 
that we are not allowed to feed any excess PV power onto their grid, production 
cannot exceed demand. I am hoping that y'all might be able to steer me towards 
a contactor assembly or device that would detect reverse current flow, trigger 
the contactor, then open up the inverter AC output circuit. The service is 
3-phase, 208 volt. The maximum current we intend to introduce is 70 amps, 
continuous.

Appreciate your advice,

Karl Jaeger
Operations Manager
LightWave Solar Electric
www.lightwavesolar.com


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Re: [RE-wrenches] Cable tray versus RMC

2011-02-16 Thread Carl Adams 
Larry,

We do have the option of no roof penetrations and that is the course
being taken.  We will have 90 source circuits in the array and 5
Jboxes on the roof and these will then be routed to a vertical wall on
the west end of the array.  The strings will carry through the wall
horizontally and then on to the inverters.

My preference would have been to penetrate the roof with RMC and come
directly into the bottom of the NEMA 4X Jbox avoiding the long conduit
runs across the roof ( which will be visible from gorund level).  I
have used the DEKTite
(http://www.itwbuildex.com/gcs_flashings_dektite.shtml)  roof boot for
this type of penetration in the past with good success.  We use the
Eternabond double face adhesive on the bottom of the boot.  WIth the
boot fully under the JBox it will never see the light of day and
should last as long as the array.

The point of my original post was really to find out if the cable tray
approach has been used by other installers for managing the DC source
circuit wiring on rooftops.  Will it meet code?  My understanding is
that cable tray is not classified as a raceway.  It it good practice?
That sort of thing.  I personally would feel better if the source
circuits were in RMC.

Cheers
Carl



On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 4:37 PM,   wrote:
> Carl,
>
> I also have a job on a brand new SS metal roof and I just did not want put 
> any holes in it so I am going down the side of the building and not 
> penetrating at all. But it's only 50kW. Do you have the option of no 
> penetration? I am curious though as to what j-box/sealing/flashing set up you 
> were planning on using.
>
> Larry Liesner
> Wirewiz
> Westport, CT
> Phone: 203-644-2404
> Fax: 203-557-0556
> wire...@gmail.com
> www.wire-wiz.com
>
>
>
> On Feb 14, 2011, at 2:56 PM, Carl Adams wrote:
>
>> I have a project for 250kW system.  4/12 pitch standing seem roof  in
>> the Great Lakes snow country.   My initial proposal was to get the
>> source strings through the roof and inside to serviceable combiner
>> locations.  This was shot down by the architect who did not want 5
>> holes punched in his new roof.  So we then shift to pass thru Jboxes
>> where we transition the PV wire to THWN-2 and into RMC back to the
>> desired point of entry.  The electrical sub on the project has now
>> proposed to reduce expense by replacing the RMC with cable trays and
>> running USE-2 in the cable tray from the JBOX back to the point of
>> entry.
>>
>> I'd appreciate your thoughts on the use of the cable tray and USE-2 on
>> the roof top.
>>
>> WIth REgards
>> Carl Adams
>> NABCEP cert 031508-1
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