You mentioned a "fixed mount facing south." Is that a ground mount? If so, and if you mount the grid-tie inverter outside so that no PV circuits go through the wall of a building, you don't need rapid shutdown. (And if the "building" is a dedicated solar equipment shed, you still don't need rapid shutdown for NEC 2017.)
If PV circuits enter a building but the interior conductors to the inverter are less than 3 feet long, you might not need rapid shutdown, either, as that is the maximum length of an "uncontrolled conductor" inside a building per the code. Less clean of a demarcation between PV outside and regular circuits inside, though. I've read of a case where the AHJ just wanted the inverter outside without rapid shutdown and that was that.
All this is academic if it's a roof mount. Then you are stuck with the rapid shutdown BS unless you use microinverters or optimizers, which satisfy the rapid shutdown requirement inherently.
If PV circuits enter a building but the interior conductors to the inverter are less than 3 feet long, you might not need rapid shutdown, either, as that is the maximum length of an "uncontrolled conductor" inside a building per the code. Less clean of a demarcation between PV outside and regular circuits inside, though. I've read of a case where the AHJ just wanted the inverter outside without rapid shutdown and that was that.
All this is academic if it's a roof mount. Then you are stuck with the rapid shutdown BS unless you use microinverters or optimizers, which satisfy the rapid shutdown requirement inherently.
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