Photovoltaic Power Systems And the 2005 National Electrical Code

[Jason]

http://www.nmsu.edu/~tdi/PV=NEC_HTML/pv-nec/pv-nec.html

[Sunking]

You stole that link from my web site; didn't you?

Just yanking your chain Jason. John Wiles is the Father of Solar Power and is my mentor and personal friend. I met him in 1997 or so during the 1999 NEC code cycle. John's White paper on NEC Installation Practices is the BIBLE for Solar Installion practices used by the pros.

[Jason]

That's awesome Dereck.

I contacted him in the past and tried to get him to visit the forum. He said he doesn't have time for discussion at this level. :becky:

To be completely honest, I didn't know you had it stickied until now! haha I don't see too much competition from up here. Things are kinda blurry. ;P

Russ suggested I link to it, so I did. (he probably got it from your site though)

[russ]

Actually I ended up at Build It Solar and found it there.

[Vandergraaff]

This document provides excellent guidance. Any idea if there is a newer version avalilable, perhaps related to the 2008 NEC?

[Sunking]

This document provides excellent guidance. Any idea if there is a newer version avalilable, perhaps related to the 2008 NEC?

Already been done with the latest revision.

[Vandergraaff]

This seems to be the latest revision (updated March 2020), so it is probably worth posting here:

http://www.nmsu.edu/~tdi/Photovoltaics/Codes-Stds/PVnecSugPract.html

However, it is still based upon the 2005 NEC. Anyone know if a 2011 NEC version is in the works?

[russ]

Hi Art - I guess you got an advance copy? Little early for the 2020 edition to come out?

Russ

[Sunking]

However, it is still based upon the 2005 NEC. Anyone know if a 2011 NEC version is in the works?

2011 NEC was released shortly and to my knowledge no jurisdictions have adopted it yet. Most jurisdictions are still operating 2002 and 2005, and a rare few on 2008.

[Naptown]

You stole that link from my web site; didn't you?

Just yanking your chain Jason. John Wiles is the Father of Solar Power and is my mentor and personal friend. I met him in 1997 or so during the 1999 NEC code cycle. John's White paper on NEC Installation Practices is the BIBLE for Solar Installion practices used by the pros.

Just attended John's class about 3 weeks ago.
Now if he could just Teach the boneheaded AHJ's that know nothing about solar.
There was one electrical inspector in the class of 60 people. The jurisdictions are all over the place here with regulations. We have one who insists that power coming from the roof not enter the structure but be run externally in pipe to a disconnect. On the regulation it states the purpose is to prevent DC power from entering the building. When asked about Enphase inverters and the fact that they are AC coming off the roof the blank looks from the inspectors is priceless.

[MikeG]

Just curious

If John Wiles is the father of solar engineering, what does that make Bill Brooks?

[Sunking]

If John Wiles is the father of solar engineering, what does that make Bill Brooks?

Exactly what his company is. Just another Engineering firm.

[warinwarin]

thanks for the link

[Sunking]

So am I right or wrong in subsidising my electricity in this way?

Most likely yes. These plug-play inverters you use are inefficient and cost are outrageous. I have no idea of how much you paid for the panels, hardware, inverter, or how much you pay for a Kwh. But here in the USA a 200 watt battery panel cost around $400, $100 of hardware, and $250 for an illegal plug-n-play inverter. You end up paying around $700 to $800 to make it work. Such a system will generate 200 to 400 watt ours of day of usable energy. With Kwh cost of 12 cents works out to 5-cents a day savings on your bill. Do the math and you discover to just break even will take 40 years. As you can probable guess none of the equipment will last 10 to 20 years if you are lucky

So what is the DIY guy to do? He finds a bargain online but is it safe to use?

Huge mistake most make, especially DIY. Here in the USA the only sold ris only economical if you go Grid Tied. Before any utility will allow you to interconnect to their system is if it meets all codes and passes inspection. Some most DIY are not capable of doing. In many states in the USA even if you can grid tie does not mean it is a economical viable and just ends up costing you more money. If you were to install a Gorilla system like you suggest electric companies are smart, they use smart meters. Any excess you generate and send to your neighbors will be billed as energy used so you pay for the electricity you send the POCO to sell to your neighbors. In addition the POCO will know of an illegal connection and can disconnect the customer.

However you are not in the USA, and their are no International Standards. Equipmet we use in th eUSA most likely will not work where you are because your electrical topology is different.

[Guest]

Thats an interesting read thanks .
One question I did not follow in the last post " In addition the POCO will know of an illegal connection and can disconnect the customer. " I'm wondering how that could be the case as any power out usually goes to a transformer of some kind so how could they know?

Secondly the statement "Any excess you generate and send to your neighbors will be billed as energy used so you pay for the electricity you send the POCO to sell to your neighbors." is not clear to me . If what you produce goes out to the grid how would it come through your billing system?