SolarPro 9.5

September/October 2016 The Importance of Discounting Future Solar Savings
O p t im a l D e s i gn, I n s tal l ati on & Perfor m anc e so la r pr ofe ssi onal . c om
Module-Level
Rapid Shutdown
Solar Power
International
An Equipment and
Vendor Preview for
SPI 2016 Las Vegas
Optimizing Your
Public Relations
Understanding the
Purpose and Value of
Audience Engagement
Interview
Tristan Kreager
Fronius USA
Projects COMPLIMENTARY ISSUE

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Contents September/October 2016 Issue 9.5
Fe a tu re s 18
18 Module-Level Rapid
Shutdown for Commercial
Applications
The International Association for Fire
Fighters introduced language to NEC
2017 that seeks to mandate module-
level rapid shutdown for PV systems on
buildings. This would, of course, require
module-level disconnecting devices for all
building-mounted PV modules, including
those on commercial rooftops, which is a daunting 50 Effective Public Relations for
paradigm shift in terms of both system reliability
and economic viability. Fire service representatives Solar Companies
and some MLPE vendors contend that module-level The goal of this article is to define what constitutes
rapid shutdown will improve safety for first respond- an effective PR strategy and to identify the optimal
ers. However, some of the industrys most prominent approach, the available tools and the most effec-
constituents believe it could have unintended negative ways to engage with an audience. Companies
tive consequences. often neglect PR, shelving it until they
BY DAVID BREARLEY want coverage when they have a new
product, reach a milestone or hire an
executive. However, the practice of
36 Solar Power PR is about maintaining an authentic
International 2016 dialogue with stakeholders and
Preview specific audiences.
36
BY SARAH HORN
More than 600 solar equipment
and service providers will dis-
play their products at the Solar
Power International conference
and expo in Las Vegas on Sep-
tember 1315. We highlight 17
companies that provide a wide
range of solutions for system
integrators. Some of the equip-
ment detailed is set to launch at
50
the event. Some is time-tested
in fielded systems. And some
represents new ideas that may or may not take hold,
but that nonetheless represent the innovation that
keeps the industry moving forward.
BY JOE SCHWARTZ
4 S O L ARPRO | September/October 2016

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Contents 2 September/October 2016 Issue 9.5
D e p a r t m ent s 14
Comparison of Returns
US bond market 2.5%
FRONT END US stock market 7.7%
PV in PG&E service territory 14.8%
8 Contributors Experience + Expertise
10 The Wire Industry Currents
14 QA Quality Assurance
The Importance of Discounting Future
S olar Savings
BACK END
62 Interview An Experienced Perspective
68
Tristan Kreager, Fronius USA
10 68 Projects System Profiles

Sunsense Solar, Garfield County Airport
Solar Array
groSolar, Mustang Solar
f ON THE COVER Grow Community is a new
urban neighborhood on Bainbridge Island, a ferry 70 Advertiser Index
ride away from Seattle, that features net-zero energy
homes, highly walkable neighborhoods and community
gardens. A&R Solar installed a 44 kW PV system on
the roof of the Juniper building at the Grove that
integrates SolarWorld modules, IronRidge racking
and 40 APsystems YC1000 3-phase quad-module
microinverters. Photo: Courtesy APsystems
6 S O L ARPRO | September/October 2016

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Contributors Experience + Expertise

Publisher/Editor Joe Schwartz

Samuel Adeyemo is the chief operating
Managing Editor Kathryn Houser
officer at Aurora Solar, a software platform
for solar sales and engineering design. Senior Technical Editor/PV Systems David Brearley
Previously, he was with Vituo Technologies, Technical Editor/PV Systems Ryan Mayfield
a company that designed and installed
small commercial PV systems in develop- Engineering Editor/PV Systems Blake Gleason, PE
ing countries. He was a Marshal Scholar Creative Services Midnight Oil Design
at the University of Chicago and holds an
Copy Editors/Proofreaders Kim Saccio-Kent,
MBA and MSc from Stanford University.
Gail Nelson-Bonebrake
David Brearley is the senior technical Advertising Directors Kim Bowker, Connie Said
editor for PV systems at SolarPro. His
Data Manager Doug Puffer
solar education began at the San Juan
College Renewable Energy Program
in Farmington, New Mexico. Brearley Proud supporter of:
became NABCEP certified in 2004. After
working for a national distributor, he tran-
sitioned to commercial and residential
PV system integration in Austin, Texas.
Sarah Horn is the manager of marketing

and communications at Borrego Solar.
Through various media and other busi-
ness development agendas, Horn aims
to educate the market, support existing
customers and strengthen the companys g C O N TAC T U S
industry reputation. She earned her MA
Subscriptions Advertising
in journalism from the University of Colo- View subscription offers at: For advertising opportunities, visit:
rado at Boulder. solarprofessional.com/subscribe solarprofessional.com/advertise
Send subscription questions to: Western States Sales Office

Tristan Kreager serves as the director of subscribe@solarprofessional.com Connie Said, Advertising Director
solar energy at Fronius USA, where he connie.said@solarprofessional.com
Update your account information at: Direct: 541.326.5773
oversees all sales, strategy and market- solarprofessional.com/myaccount
ing efforts. Previously, Kreager was the Eastern States Sales Office
Letters to the Editor Kim Bowker, Advertising Director
manager of hybrid energy solutions for kim.bowker@solarprofessional.com
Email your comments and suggestions to:
SMA America. He has been active in editor@solarprofessional.com Direct: 541.858.1791
the renewables industry since 1994,
Industry PR Marketing
specializing in remote off-grid and grid- Send news and equipment releases to: Promotional opportunities and offers:
interactive backup systems. thewire@solarprofessional.com marketing@solarprofessional.com
Joe Schwartz is the CEO of Home Copyright 2016 Home Power, Inc. Contents may not be reprinted or otherwise reproduced
without written permission. SolarPro is a registered trademark of Home Power, Inc.
Power. He serves as the publisher and
While SolarPro strives to publish only safe and accurate content, we assume no responsibility
editor of SolarPro and the executive edi-
or liability for the use of this information.
tor of Home Power. Schwartz worked as
Interior paper is made from 85%100% recycled material, including 20%30%
a PV, wind and hydro systems integrator postconsumer waste.
prior to entering technical publishing. He National Electrical Code, NFPA 70 and NEC are registered trademarks of the National Fire
holds a Limited Renewable Energy Tech- Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts.
nician license in the state of Oregon.

SolarPro | PO Box 68 | Ashland, OR 97520 | US
8 S O L A R PR O | September/October 2016
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the Wire Industry Currents
SMA Releases
Second-Generation
Medium Voltage Block
[Rocklin, CA] Developed for integration with its Sunny
Central line of central inverters for utility-scale PV plants,
SMAs redesigned Medium Voltage Block includes a medium- connection hardware and transformer monitoring cable
voltage transformer, an ac busbar kit and an optional tracker sets, are included. Transformer monitoring, communicated
auxiliary rack. The blocks layout is based on that of a tradi- through the inverter MODBUS registries, reports the status
tional ANSI pad-mount transformer, with low-voltage con- of the transformer, including values for temperature and
nections positioned horizontally in plane with the output pressure, which enables trend-based predictive maintenance
busbars of the inverter. All the necessary hardware for instal- to streamline O&M activities.
lation, including the busway, busbars, grounding straps, SMA America / 916.625.0870 / sma-america.com
Darfon Introduces
Ginlong Launches Third-Generation
Single-Phase String
Inverter Models Microinverter
[Mountain View, CA] Darfons third-generation
[Dublin, OH] Ginlong Technologies has added six single-
microinverter, the G320, is compatible with 60- and
phase models to its extensive lineup of Solis string inverters. 72-cell modules with STC power ratings of up to 350 W.
The recently introduced Solis-4G-US line includes 6 kW10 kW The microinverter platform has multiple phase con-
models with multiple MPP trackers. The 6 kW, 7 kW and 7.6 kW figurations and is available in four
units have three MPP trackers voltage options that are set at the
each. The 8 kW, 9 kW and 10 kW factory (208 V, 220 V, 240 V and
models have four MPP trackers 277 V), making it suitable for
each. The inverters have a wide deployment in residential, com-
operating range of 100 Vdc mercial and industrial applica-
500 Vdc. Full-power MPPT ranges tions. The G320 has a maximum
vary from 200 Vdc500 Vdc to input voltage of 60 Vdc, an operat-
250 Vdc500 Vdc, depending on ing voltage range of 22 Vdc60 Vdc
the model. The transformerless and an MPPT range of 24 Vdc
inverters feature fanless passive 45 Vdc. Its continuous power rating
cooling and a highpower-density, is 300 W. A maximum of 19 G320s
compact, lightweight design. An can be installed on a 30 A branch
integrated AFCI option is available. circuit in 240 Vac systems and
Ginlong Technologies / 866.438.8408 /
up to 66 (balanced) units can be installed on a 30 A
ginlong.com
277 Vac circuit. The platform features flexible cabling
configurations and can be installed with or without
trunk cabling.
Darfon / 650.316.6300 / darfonsolar.com
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OutBack pioneered the concept of pre-configured and pre-wired systems

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the Wire
YaskawaSolectria Solar Expands
3-Phase Inverter Line
[Lawrence, MA] YaskawaSolectria Solar has added two high-power string inverter
models to its 3-phase 1,000 Vdc transformerless inverter line for decentralized PV power
plants. The two new models, the 50 kW PVI 50TL and the 60 kW PVI 60TL, have an
integrated, detachable wiring box that is available with an MC4 connector option for
compatibility with wire harness systems. The inverters have three MPP trackers with five
dc inputs per tracker and integrated ac and dc disconnects. The PVI 50TL and PVI 60TL
have a 090 installation orientation range. Both models allow for remote diagnostics
and firmware upgrades, and are backed by a 10-year standard warranty. Extended ser-
vice agreements of 15 and 20 years are also available.
YaskawaSolectria Solar / 978.683.9700 / solectria.com
APsystems Introduces
High-Power Dual-Input
Microinverter
[Seattle, WA] APsystems has expanded its microinverter family with
the introduction of the dual-MPPT YC500i microinverter. The dual-
module unit has a peak power rating of 274 W per side (548 W total)
and a maximum continuous power rating of 500 W. It can be pro-
grammed for 240 Vac and 208 Vac services. The YC500i has a
Trojan Adds
maximum input voltage of 55 Vdc, an operating voltage range of
16 Vdc52 Vdc and an
Model to Premium
MPPT voltage range of
22 Vdc45 Vdc. Up to Battery Line
seven units (14 modules)
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ac branch circuit. The Vdc J200-RE flooded battery is well suited for small
YC500i utilizes a trunk stationary energy storage systems where flooded
cable, offering installers lead-acid batteries are preferred. The J200-RE
an alternative to the daisy- battery has a capacity of 200 Ah at the C20 rate.
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YC500A microinverter for Carbon, the manufacturers proprietary carbon
installers who favor trunk additive developed to reduce the impact of partial-
cable architecture and state-of-charge conditions common in stand-alone
for markets where regula- renewable energy systems. The J200-RE battery is
tory bodies prefer an rated for 1,600 cycles at a 50% depth of discharge
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QA Quality Assurance
The Importance of Discounting Future

Solar Savings
O
n May 7, 2016, Pearlie Mae Discount rate. In the context of solar, cost of energy (LCOE) and payback
Smith, the winner of the New the value of electric bill savings in the periodacross two financing options:
Jersey Lottery Powerball, had future should be similarly discounted cash and loan-financed purchase.
an enviable decision to make: Should relative to cash in hand today.
she accept $429 million in payments The amount that a dollar
over 30 years or accept a smaller in the future is discounted The discount rate is the rate of return
amount, $284 million, up front? Though relative to a dollar today is
it was 34% lower, Ms. Smith chose the referred to as the discount at which it makes no difference to you
up-front payment. While Ms. Smith was rate, which the American
more than 70 years old at the time she Heritage Dictionary defines whether you receive the payment today
won the Powerball, her choice was not as the interest rate used in
unique. Powerball data show that all determining the present value versus sometime in the future.
five winners in 2016 chose the up-front of a future payment or series
payment versus taking payments over of payments. In plain English,
time, forfeiting more than a third of this is the rate of return at which it Case study. For this example, I used
their nominal earnings. makes no difference to you whether you Aurora (aurorasolar.com) both to
Going back as far as 2003, you receive the payment today versus some- design the 10 kW system in Figure 1
will find cases where Powerball win- time in the future. and to perform the financial analysis.
ners were willing to sacrifice half For the mathematically inclined, The case study assumes the follow-
their winnings to claim them up front you can calculate the discount of ing: The customer is on PG&Es E-1
versus spreading them out over time. If future to current savings using baseline utility rate for Region S; the
sacrificing almost half of ones nominal Formula 1: assumed utility inflation rate is 3%;
winnings in exchange for an up-front the system cost is $3.50 per watt; the
Sn 1/n
payment does not sound totally crazy,
you already have an intuitive under-
d= (S ) 1 (1)
loan terms require 20% down and
4.9% interest; incentives are limited
0
standing of the concept of the time value to the 30% Investment Tax Credit; and
of money, also known as discounting. where d is the discount rate, Sn is the the project service life is 25 years. The
savings in year n, S0 is the current financial results presented in Table 1
Time Value of Money value of these savings and n is the year (p. 16) show that applying a discount
The time value of money means that of evaluation. The discount rate is typi- rate leads to a reduction in the present
a dollar promised at a future date is cally expressed as a percentage. value of lifetime savings and the LCOE,
worth a discounted amount com- as well as a slightly longer payback
pared to a dollar guaranteed today. Modeling Financial Returns period. These results have implications
This is because there is no guarantee If you are not applying a discount rate, for both the recommended financing
that whoever promised you the dollar or if the software you are using does option and the optimal system design.
will be around or will deliver it in not do so, you are likely misrepresent- Customer financing: With a 2.5%
25 years. Even if the person does ing the financial returns of going solar. discount rate, this clients discounted
deliver the dollar, due to inflation, it You may also be making suboptimal lifetime savings are greater with a
will not buy as much in 25 years as solar design decisions or recommend- loan-financed system compared to a
it does today. In addition, if you get ing the wrong financing option to your cash deal. The discount rate acts as
a dollar today, you can invest it and client. Let us examine what the appli- a penalty for tying up the cash that
grow that dollar over time. For all of cation of a discount rate does to some the client might have invested in
these reasons, money promised in of the more commonly quoted solar another asset. It is also interesting to
the future is worth less than money financial metricslifetime savings, observe the changes in LCOE. With a
guaranteed today. internal rate of return (IRR), levelized discount rate applied, the LCOE for
a cash purchase increases by more
than 30%, whereas the LCOE for the
loan structure increases by only about
7%. We have already established that
a dollar guaranteed today is not the
same as one promised in 25 years, and
it is equally true that a dollar owed
25 years from now is worth a lot less
than one in hand today. Thus, a loan-
financed system generally starts to
look more favorable relative to a cash
purchase as discount rates increase.
Design optimization: Designers can
C ou r te sy A u ror a S o l a r
also use LCOE to determine whether a

proposed solar installation generates a
financially optimal amount of energy.
If, on one hand, the effective utility rate
is higher than the projects LCOE, then
the homeowner is leaving money on
Figure 1 The Aurora software platform estimates that the 10 kW array shown here the table by not generating more solar
has a weighted total solar resource fraction of 86% and will generate 12.85 MWh of energy. In this case, you should seek
energy in year 1. to design a higher-producing system
to capitalize on the higher utility
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solarprofessional.com | S O L A R P R O 15
QA
Effect of Discount Rate on Financial Metrics Within the solar industry, the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Cash Loan System Advisor Model (SAM) includes
d = 0% d = 2.5% d = 0% d = 2.5% a discount rate when calculating
LCOE ($/kWh) 0.09 0.12 0.14 0.15
financial metrics. In fact, NRELs user
guide for SAM states that the dis-
Lifetime savings $91,997 $58,191 $75,914 $65,218
count rate acts as a measure of time
IRR 14.8% 14.8% N/A N/A
value and is central to the calculation
Payback period (years) 6.7 7.1 N/A N/A of present value.
Table 1 This table provides a comparison of common financial metrics for a cash It is well established that the
purchase versus a 20-year loan-financed system (20% down, 4.9% interest), with and cost of acquiring customers is one of
without discounting. (Note that the payback period assumes discounted cash flows.) the major obstacles to making solar
ubiquitous. Consumer education is
one of the reasons commonly cited
compensation rate. On the other hand, However, financial markets are vola- for the high cost: Consumers are often
if the effective utility rate is lower than tile, whereas solar provides savings confused about the economic ben-
the LCOE, then the homeowner is los- as long as the sun shines (and assum- efits of going solar. Perhaps one way
ing money on each incremental unit of ing that regulators do not retroac- to help alleviate this is to speak to
energy generated. In this scenario, the tively change policies). Furthermore, homeowners in familiar terms. While
appropriate design response is to gen- unlike income from the stock or bond most homeowners are unfamiliar with
erate less energy, perhaps by specify- markets, solar savings are tax-free. terms like azimuth or solar access, they
ing less-costly components with lower This means that if you provide an likely have had to assess how much
energy yields. apples-to-apples money to put into
Analyzing results. While nobody comparison of a 401k or whether
wants to show lower financial financial returns, By applying a discount factor to buy or rent.
returns, the discounted values in going solar is Moreover, they
Table 1 more accurately reflect the a no-brainer to future savings, you can almost certainly
financial returns of going solar. investment for understand that a
Furthermore, by performing this type this particular more accurately and credibly dollar will not be
of analysis, you can now credibly homeowner, as worth the same in
compare the returns on solar to other illustrated in compare the returns on solar 25 years as a dol-
asset classes. Even with the 2.5% dis- Table 2. lar is worth today.
count rate, the homeowner is saving Accuracy to those of other asset classes. Applying a
more than $58,000 over the projects and credibility. discount rate
life in todays dollars and is earning Applying a dis- as part of your
an annualized return of 14.8%. count rate when assessing investment financial analyses not only will
To put a 14.8% return for solar in decisions is a well-established prac- improve your design and financial
PG&E service territory in context, tice for financial and economic analy- decision-making processes, but will
State Street Global Advisers forecasts ses. Many analogous industries have also increase the accuracy and cred-
that the US bond and stock mar- adopted this as standard practice. ibility of your results and allow you to
kets will have long-term annualized For example, realtor.com offers an make an apples-to-apples comparison
returns of 2.5% and 7.7%, respectively. online Rent vs. Buy Calculator where between the returns of solar versus
the discount rateidentified as other asset classes.
the investment rate of returnis Samuel Adeyemo / Aurora Solar /
Comparison of Returns a required input. The US govern- Palo Alto, CA / aurorasolar.com
US bond market 2.5% ments Office of Management
US stock market 7.7% and Budget uses discount rates
when calculating the financial
PV in PG&E service territory 14.8% returns associated with invest-
Table 2 Applying a discount rate allows for ing in clean energy or energy
an apples-to-apples comparison of potential efficiency projects, as well as
investment opportunities. for general budgeting purposes.
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Module-Level
Rapid Shutdown
for Commercial
Applications
Cou r te sy A P syste m s
By David Brearley
W
The fire service wants hile it has proven relatively easy for solar compa-
nies to comply with the rapid-shutdown require-
ments in NEC 2014, many in the solar industry
module-level rapid are justifiably concerned about the implica-
tions of the revised and more restrictive rapid-shutdown
shutdown. But is this requirements adopted as part of the 2017 cycle of revisions.
Specifically, the International Association for Fire Fighters
introduced language that seeks to mandate module-level
commercially viable in rapid shutdown for PV systems on buildings. This would, of
course, require module-level disconnecting devices for all
nonresidential applica- building-mounted PV modules, including those on commer-

cial rooftops, which is a daunting paradigm shift in terms of
both system reliability and economic viability.
tions? And will this reduce In this article, I explore different perspectives on the pros-
pects of deploying module-level power electronics (MLPE)
hazards within the array? in commercial rooftop applications in light of these evolv-
ing rapid-shutdown requirements. Generally speaking, there
are two sides to the debate. Where the 2014 version of rapid shutdown becomes the
On one hand, fire service law of the land, residential markets shift away from string
representatives and some inverterbased designs in favor of MLPE-based designs.
MLPE vendors contend that Arguably, the design response is even simpler in commercial
module-level rapid shut- applications. Many commercial project designers started
down will improve safety for switching from central inverterbased to 3-phase string
firefighters and first respond- inverterbased designs to meet the dc arc-fault protection
ers. On the other, the Solar requirements in NEC 2011. To ensure that these distributed
Energy Industries Association inverter designs comply with the 2014 version of rapid shut-
(SEIA) and some of its down, designers simply need to locate these 3-phase string
most prominent constitu- inverters on the roof within 10 feet of the array.
entsincluding SolarCity, This is good news for installation companies in the larg-
SunPower and Sunrun est US solar market, as well as for the North American solar
point out that there is no market in general. Though it will throw some AHJs and
scientific basis for using inspectors for a loop when California adopts NEC 2014 on
module-level rapid shutdown January 1, 2017, experiences in other states have shown that
to protect emergency respon- this level of rapid-shutdown compliance is relatively straight-
ders and that doing so could forward and not overly disruptive to business as usual. (For
have unintended negative more about the intent and design implications of 2014 rapid
consequences. Staking out shutdown, see Bill Brooks article Rapid Shutdown for PV
a middle ground, UL prom- Systems, SolarPro, January/February 2015.)
ises to take a science-based 2017 version. Under NEC 2017, the rapid-shutdown lan-
approach as it develops an guage in section 690.12 expands from a mere 133 words
NEC 2017 rapid-shutdown PV to more than 1,100. Many of the people who previously
array product safety standard. bemoaned the lack of specificity in NEC 2014 may find
themselves longing for those halcyon days of yore. Without
Evolving Rapid- a doubt, the number one complaint about 2017 rapid shut-
down is that it is overly prescriptive.
Shutdown From a design point of view, there are two main differ-
Requirements ences between the versions of rapid shutdown. First, the 2017
Code shrinks the not more than 30 V zone on the roof from
Introduced as part of the 2014 a maximum of 10 feet to not more than 1 foot from the array
cycle of revisions and signifi- in every direction, as shown in Figure 1. Second, whereas 2014
cantly revised for the 2017 rapid-shutdown requirements apply to conductors outside
Code, the goal of NEC 690.12 the array boundary only, the 2017 version has requirements
is to reduce shock hazards both for conductors outside the array boundary and for con-
for emergency responders. ductors inside the array boundary. It is fair to say that there
2014 version. Under NEC is general consensus on the first count. Both firefighters and
2014, rapid shutdown of PV solar industry stakeholders agree that shrinking the array
system circuits on buildings is accomplished by limiting the boundary when controlling PV circuits will tangibly improve
potential of controlled conductors to
Figure 1 The differences between the 2014 and 2017 rapid-shutdown array boundar-
30 V or less beyond 5 or 10 feet of the
ies are illustrated here. The time limit for shutdown is expected to increase from 10 to
array, depending on whether the con-
30 seconds to allow for smart inverter functions such as low-voltage ride through.
ductors enter the building or travel
along its exterior. Markets have gen-
NEC 2014 rapid-shutdown boundary extends 10 feet beyond array. NEC 2017 rapid-shutdown boundary extends
erally shrugged off this Code change Controlled conductors outside boundary are limited to 30 V or less; 1 foot beyond array in all directions.
conductors inside boundary remain uncontrolled. Controlled conductors outside array boundary
and continued apace. Certainly, states are limited to 30 V or less;
that adopted NEC 2014 early, such as subsection 690.12(B)(2) applies inside boundary.
Massachusetts, experienced some

growing pains associated with rapid-
shutdown compliance and enforce-
ment. However, system designers
Compliance options inside array boundary
were quick to identify and implement (likely subject to delayed enforcement):
a standard set of cost-effective and (1) Listed rapid-shutdown PV array;
(2) Control conductors to <80 V;
application-specific approaches to (3) PV arrays with no exposed wiring
or conductive metal parts.
rapid shutdown.
Rapid Shutdown for Commercial Apps
safety for proximity firefighting. Opinions differ, however, Representing firefighters, I support the effort to shut down PV
about what should happen inside the array boundary. systems to the module level during emergencies. The recent
proliferation of solar systems in our jurisdiction is having an
impact on firefighters ability to respond to fire emergencies.
Which Side Are You On? Access and egress during rooftop operations and the inability
In the first draft of NEC 2017 690.12(B)(2), fire service rep- to control utilities for the entire structure are concerns. It is
resentatives established a voltage limit of 80 Vdc within the vital that the Code development process recognize the need to
array boundary, effectively mandating MLPE for all building- protect firefighter safety. This proposal utilizes existing tech-
mounted PV modules. SEIA and other PV industry leaders nology to do just that.
pushed back during the public comment stage, even going Richard Doane, fire marshal, Chico Fire-Rescue
so far as to commission the independent engineering firm
DNV GL to study firefighter rooftop operations and hazards [PV system] circuits remain energized anytime the modules
encountered while working around PV arrays, and to com- are illuminated and up to the maximum system voltage of
pare mitigation methods (see Resources). 1,000 Vdc. This results in increased danger to first respond-
Unless you actively track the Code development process, ers when the structure has been damaged. Historically,
you may have missed out on the industry-wide gnashing of this has been accepted since there was no practical way to
teeth regarding the module-level rapid-shutdown language isolate a PV module from the PV source circuit that would
in NEC 2017. The public comments associated with the first operate remotely and on all PV modules in an array simulta-
draft of section 690.12, Rapid Shutdown for PV Systems on neously. Module-level products were not readily available to
Buildings, make for interesting reading because they illus- provide this functionality. Today, this is no longer true: Many
trate the lines of debate and clarify the major concerns on reliable products are available that can be either incorpo-
both sides. Excerpts from this debate, edited for length and rated into a PV module or added to a PV module in the field
clarity, follow. to provide PV module isolation by remote control. The reli-
ability concerns from 2014 are no longer relevant today, and
ALL IN FAVOR, SAY AYE market data estimates that up to 10 million units capable of
Firefighters are the most vocal advocates of the 80 V limit module-level isolation are now in service.
within the array, undoubtedly because module-level rapid James Penn, fire inspector, Compton Fire Department
shutdown sounds like it might render an array touch-safe.
Not surprisingly, several vendors with module-level rapid- [The] Fire Marshals Association of Colorado supports the
shutdown solutions also support the 80 V limit. language in the first revision as well as the work from the
Firefighter Safety and PV System Task Group. PV systems on
rooftops can present several hazards to firefighters, the most
Low-voltage parallel architecture Ten K Solar uses MLPE to
serious being electric shock in an emergency situation. This
control the dc bus in its DUO PV system to 60 V or less. Due to
section and the proposed change is a significant step forward
its matrix cell architecture, the internal module voltage is always
in improving firefighter safety.
less than 16 Vdc, which is insufficient to sustain an arc and is
David Lowrey, fire marshal, Boulder Fire-Rescue
below the safe voltage level for wet locations.
[No] other appliance [is] allowed to be used in and around
populated areas where there is not a clearly designated
switch, plug or other de-energizing method for fully deactivat-
ing the system. Why should solar be any different? This indus-
try inconsistency results in an even greater hazard to those
untrained in solar, as the default expectation is that all elec-
trical systems can be turned off and are fundamentally safe.
Tim Johnson, vice president of customer quality,
Ten K Solar
Co u r t es y Te n K So l ar
Enphase Energy supports the language proposed by Code

Making Panel-4 [CMP-4], especially the reduced voltage
level within an array when initiated by emergency personnel.
Rooftop PV arrays should be able to [be] shut down to safe
voltage levels in the event of emergency C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 2
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conditions. This is particularly important when considering

the life span of a system, as older systems may present elec-
trical hazards to emergency personnel.
Mark Baldassari, director of codes and standards,
Enphase Energy
ALL OPPOSED, SAY NAY
Co ur te sy Se nti ne l So l a r
SEIA and several prominent member solar companies, both
small and large, vigorously oppose module-level disconnec-
tion as a sole means of reducing shock hazards for emergency
responders. Public comments suggest this opposition is not
due to an unwillingness to develop and adopt more-rigorous
safety standards, but rather due to questions about the efficacy
of the 80 V limit as a means of accomplishing these goals. MW-scale MLPE The largest PV system deployed with
Enphase microinverters is this 2.3 MW greenhouse roof-
SEIA understands and largely agrees with the fire services mounted array in Ontario, Canada, which Sentinel Solar com-
intent to further enhance rapid-shutdown requirements in missioned in May 2013.
the 2017 NEC. SEIA disagrees, however, with the specific module-level electronics mandate, it is inappropriate for the
requirement limits [as] the incorporation of these limits into NFPA to set voltage requirements within the array equipment.
the NEC would effectively mandate module-level electron- Indeed, the NFPA would be setting an arbitrary level of safety
ics, resulting in a variety of negative consequences. based solely on statements from a few existing product manu-
SEIAs strong contention is that, given the absence of facturers and not fact-based testing involving a wide selection
any independent technical justification for the proposed of performance criteria.
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There are multiple approaches to significantly reduce the
is possible with
risk of shock hazard to firefighters operating within the PV
array boundary. In contrast, a module-level electronics man-
BayWa r.e.
date would favor certain technologies over others. This is an
overly prescriptive approach, which will create a disincentive
to develop competing technologies and [will] stifle innova-
tion. It should also be recognized that nearly all module-level
electronic devices being
sold today are principally
If we took this same designed for power conver-
sion and monitoringnot
approach to transporta- rapid shutdown.
The long-term reliability
tion, we would require of module-level electronics
is also relatively unproven.
that all petroleum prod- Indeed, few devices currently
being sold for module-level
ucts in vehicles become rapid shutdown have under-
gone long-term reliability
nonflammable in the testing in the field.
Visit us
Reliability is not only a SPI, La at
event of an accident. If concern for firefighters but booth # s Veg
1211, N as
Septem or
also for PV service person- ber 12- th Hall
15, 201
implemented as currently nel exposed to the inher- 6
ent hazards of roof work.
written, this will be a The concern here is that
unreliable rapid-shutdown
train wreck. devices will significantly, BayWa r.e. is a globally recognized leader in all renewable
Marv Dargatz, PV industry and unnecessarily, increase energy, with a strong focus in Solar Energy. We proudly
consultant, Kaylaco Enterprises the amount of time PV offer a comprehensive portfolio of solar products and
installers and electricians services.
spend on rooftops to replace
or repair failed devices. And while PV installers and electricians Our services include:
recognize and accept the inherent risks of rooftop environ- Solar Distribution
ments, no one should have to accept unnecessary exposure to Finance
Projects
such hazards.
Operations & Maintenance
John Smirnow, principal, Smirnow Law (representing SEIA)
BayWa r.e. is fast becoming the world leader in solar PV,
The current language requires that only the devices control- wind, bioenergy and geothermal energy generation.
ling conductors inside the array boundary limit the voltage to Our strong global network of suppliers and partners is
80 V. There is no mention of the conditions under which this unparalleled in renewable energy. Join us in Making
device must function; no mention of whether the device needs Energy Better!
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fail-safe; no mention of immunity to heat, electrical noise or For more on the BayWa r.e. renewable
moisture. To be clear, we dont think that these requirements energy network please visit: baywa-re.com
should be spelled out in the NEC, but they are essential to the
safe and reliable operation of these devices. Hence, we request
that the 80 V requirement be replaced with a new certifica-
tion requirement. It is critical that this certification require-
ment be distinct from the other rapid-shutdown requirement,
because it will need to provide functionality that is distinct
from [that of] the other devices. The rapid-shutdown devices
outside the array boundary only need to isolate certain con-

ductors. The devices inside the array boundary need to limit
the electrical hazards on the components directly connected
to the PV modules, which are always energized. The pres-
U L fi re fi g hte r sa fe ty re po r t
ent language is also silent about the amperage requirement,
which is the physical quantity that actually causes harm to
humans. With 80 V and no limit on current, it is still possible
to electrocute a human.
Mark Albers, electrical systems engineer, SunPower
While SolarCity supports the fire service in its intent to

False sense of security? UL fire experiments in 2011 (see
increase safety within the boundary of the array, the first
Resources) indicated that damaged PV modules pose a shock
draft of section 690.12(B)(2) has been written in such a way
hazard. Though badly burned on the backside, this PV mod-
that effectively prescribes a specific type of electronic solu-
ule remains capable of producing full voltage. An 80 V limit
tion. [MLPE] are complicated devices, with a wide array of
within the array may not eliminate these hazards.
functions, but they were never designed for the sole purpose
of turning off solar modules. Because of their complexity, one device beneath every solar module will directly increase
these devices cannot last as long as solar panels. the time solar construction workers will have to spend on
[It] is important to remember that not a single fire- the roof to replace them. More time on the roof [equates to]
fighter has been killed while on a building with solar, sug- a higher risk of falling.
gesting that existing safety provisions for PV have been Even when [MLPE] devices work as advertised, the [PV]
largely effective. Meanwhile, falls remain the number one system is never truly shut down. UL confirmed as recently
cause of death among all construction workers. Mandating as June, in its evaluation of firefighter C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 6
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[personal protective equipment], that voltages below 80 V achieves that goal. Requiring conductors within the array
still pose a risk. [Reducing the voltage without eliminating] zone to be controlled to 80 V does not provide a touch-safe
the hazard gives unsuspecting firefighters a false sense of environment, and there are thousands of legacy PV installa-
security that only puts them at risk. tions currently installed that are not controlled within the
Duncan Cleminshaw, director of product compliance, array zone; therefore, 690.12(B)(2) creates a false sense of
SolarCity security for the fire service. Fire operations should not be in
the array zone when there are better options.
Representatives of the fire service tell us that they need to Phil Undercuffler, director of strategic platforms,
quickly ventilate a structure that is on fire, and as a 10-year OutBack Power
veteran of the fire service and chief of a rural fire department,
I can tell you that they are right. However, the position that
vertical ventilation is the best and only way to ventilate, and The Compromise Solution
that the fire service therefore needs full and unlimited access As a result of this pushback, CMP-4 developed a second
to the roof, does not align with modern fire science. Studies revision of NEC 2017 690.12 that provides three compliance
performed by the NIST [National Institute of Standards and options inside the array boundary, each of which offers a
Technology] and others have shown that positive-pressure unique set of challenges. The first option is to use a listed
ventilation is more effective than traditional vertical ventila- rapid-shutdown PV array, which assumes the existence of
tion. According to this research, vertical rooftop ventilation an as-yet-unwritten UL product safety standard. The second
can no longer be considered the gold standard for effective option is to limit the potential of controlled conductors to not
fireground operations. more than 80 V. This option assumes that UL fire testing will
Section 690.12 should ensure that a local source of elec- show that divergent product classes (such as microinverters,
tricity (the PV array) can be easily disconnected from a build- ac modules, dc-to-dc converters and smart modules) provide
ing electrical system in the event of a fire, and 690.12(B)(1) an as-yet-unproven level of shock hazard mitigation under
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abnormal operating conditionsmost enforcement date of January 1,
important, after a fire has compro- 2019. This delay will give UL and its
mised and damaged the PV modules standards technical panel members
Co ur te sy K ACO ne w e ne r g y
and associated solid-state devices. The time to develop a rapid-shutdown PV
third option is to deploy PV arrays with array product safety standard that
no exposed wires or conductive parts at meets NEC 2017.
least 8 feet away from exposed grounded Ultimately, 14 of 17 eligible vot-
conductive parts, which seems to belong ers on CMP-4 voted in the affirma-
in a product safety standard rather than tive, which suggests that the formally
in the NEC. adopted 2017 rapid-shutdown lan-
While the requirements for what Low-voltage inversion KACO new guage, due out in October, will adhere
should happen inside the array bound- energys recently released Ultraverter closely to the second revision, for
ary are contentious, areas of common system, which is suitable for small com- better or worse. Bill Brooks, a solar
ground do exist. For example, both fire mercial applications and meets NEC industry representative on CMP-4,
service and solar industry represen- 2017 requirements, pairs low-voltage voted in favor of the second revision.
tatives on CMP-4 seem to agree that module-level inversion with a modular However, he concedes: The new ver-
the compromise solution is not ideal. grid connection box (not shown). sion of 690.12 is a significant step in
A common concern from stakehold- PV system safety that will be difficult
ers on both sides is whether the three for the PV industry to master in the
compliance options allowed inside the array boundary pro- first several years of enforcement.
vide an equivalent level of safety. Given that no one seems Brooks continues, explaining his affirmative vote: While
particularly happy with 690.12(B)(2) as written, it seems for- [compliant] products are commonly available and used
tunate that this subsection will likely come with a delayed in the residential market, the more difficult market is the
Integrated Design Smart Module Parallel Architecture Safe Voltage
Supply chain, overhead, margin

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COMMERCIAL VIABILITY
0 0
Commercialized MLPE are competitive in Q4 2014 Q4 2015 Q4 2014 Q4 2015
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Residential Nonresidential
residential applications. GTM Research
data show that in 2014, when US states Figure 2 Recent GTM Research data, summarized here, show a substantial
began adopting rapid-shutdown require- price differential between the residential and nonresidential (commercial) market
ments, the combined market share for segments, as well as very different growth trajectories.
module-level solutionsincluding micro-
inverters, dc optimizers, ac modules and smart modules 2017, which may prove optimistic given that California is
already accounted for more than half of the total residential now poised to adopt rapid shutdown.
product mix. Since that time, the market share for string What is less clear is whether commercially available MLPE
inverters has erodedpresumably because more rapid- can have the same success in nonresidential applications. Two
shutdown markets come on line each yearfrom 48% in charts from the US Solar Market Insight Report: 2015 Year in
2014 to 40% in 2015. GTM Research estimates that the resi- Review, published by GTM Research and SEIA, put the chal-
dential market share for string inverters could fall to 30% in lenge in stark contrast. The first chart compares average system
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Welcome to the new
solar hot water
Commercial interests costs by market segment (res-
idential, nonresidential and
are undoubtedly utility). According to these
data, average costs in the
significant on both sides residential market segment
were roughly $3.50 per watt
of this issue, but con- in both Q4 2014 and Q4 2015,
suggesting that it may be diffi-
cerns over reliability are cult for system integrators to
drive costs out of residential
voiced equally by experts systems while transitioning
at research institutes, from string inverterbased
to MLPE-based designs. In
universities and National contrast, average costs in the
nonresidential segment have
Laboratories operated steadily declined quarter over
quarter, from roughly $2.20
by the US Department per watt in Q4 2014 to about
$2.00 per watt in Q4 2015. The Accelera 220 E
of Energy. gap between $3.50 per watt 58-gallon
heat pump water heater
DNV GL, Rooftop PV Systems and holding, and $2.00 per Accelera Heat Pump Water Accelera 300 E
and Firefighter Safety watt and falling, is substantial. Heater plus solar electric is 80-gallon
The second chart com- a cost-effective and green
heat pump water heater
pares installed PV capac- alternative to solar thermal
ity by market segment over time. These data show that the hot water
residential PV market is the fastest-growing market segment
3.8 kWh per day PV offsets
in the US, with more than 50% annual growth for 4 years
annual hot water energy costs
running. By comparison, GTM Research describes the non-
residential solar market as essentially flat for the third Saves 80% compared to a
year in a row. Here again, the gap between these two standard electric tank
marketsone growing at a record pace and the other stag- Low carbon footprint
nantis substantial. 3 foam insulation for
When one considers these two data sets side by side, extremely low standby losses
as shown in Figure 2, it seems fair to wonder whether the
Quiet 52 dB sound pressure level
nonresidential PV market might contract, at least initially,
under the cost burden of an MLPE mandate. While that Superior design from decades
mandate would undoubtedly prove good for someperhaps of experience
paving the way for integrated ac PV modules, smart mod-
ules and other junction box or cell stringlevel disconnec- Engineering & manufacturing
excellence since 1924
tion devicesit could be a net loss for the industry at large,
especially for commercial project developers and EPC firms
working in states that will adopt NEC 2017 early, such as
Massachusetts and Colorado. 800.582.8423
Supply bottlenecks are another concern. Today, commer- www.StiebelEltron.us
cial project developers have access to multiple product lines
and vendors. If one of these vendors exits the market (as hap-
pened with Advanced Energy) or has supply-chain issues, sys-
tem integrators can substitute compatible product platforms
from other vendors prior to construction or even during opera-
tions. Though MLPE vendors have made great strides in recent
years, this is nevertheless a relatively immature market, largely
populated with vendors who offer mutually exclusive products.
Innovation and proprietary interfaces, rather than substitut- that module-level and perhaps even cell stringlevel power
ability and cross-compatibility, characterize the sector. electronics will prove the norm, perhaps sooner rather than
If an MLPE mandate went into effect today, project later. Some industry experts even predict the eventual rise
developers would likely be forced to either put all of their of cell-level power electronics. While todays products work
eggs into one of two basketsEnphase Energy or SolarEdge well, tomorrows more advanced products will work even
(which dominate in terms of market share)or qualify an better and more reliably.
alternative solution with a limited track record. This is not What remains to be proven is whether MLPE are the
a recipe for resilience, but rather a precarious situation sus- most effective way to reduce shock hazards for emergency
ceptible to market distortion. SMAs partnership with Tigo, responders within the array boundary. Do MLPE perform
which the companies announced in April 2016, suggests better in this regard than other hazard mitigation methods?
that supply chain could be strategically important under While solar and fire service stakeholders agree that rapid
an MLPE mandate. In exchange for acquiring a 27% stake in shutdown outside the array boundary reduces risks for fire-
Tigo Energy, SMA obtains exclusive worldwide sales rights, fighters, initial fire research and engineering evaluations
for a period of 30 months, to Tigos TS4 R product platform, suggest that current product safety standards do not elimi-
which is a retrofit solution designed to add MLPE function- nate shock hazards within a damaged PV array.
ality to conventional PV modules. Fire research. In 2011, UL conducted the first experimen-
tal investigation of the impact fielded PV systems have on fire
TECHNICAL VIABILITY suppression, ventilation and overhaul activities. ULs research
Many in the industry, myself included, believe that MLPE are engineers started by reviewing the literature and standards
inevitable and perhaps necessary in the long term. In spite of associated with electric shock, impedance of the human
the technological hurdles, the vendors pioneering this space body, touch-safe voltage levels, and safe distances between
have largely proven their doubters and naysayers wrong. If water hoses and live electrical equipment. They then devel-
we could fast-forward into the future, we would likely see oped electrical and fire performance C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 3 2
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Integrated MLPE NEC 2017 could

increase demand for ac modules and smart
experiments that would identify and quantify modules, such as this one from JA Solar
the electrical shock hazard associated with with a junction boxintegrated SolarEdge
specific PV-involved firefighting scenarios. UL dc optimizer.
published its findings in the report Firefighter
Safety and Photovoltaic Installations Research Perhaps the most important UL fire
Project (see Resources). test results are those showing that dam-
In addition to testing equipment such as aged PV arrays are inherently hazard-
Co ur te sy So l a r E dg e
firefighter gloves and boots for their insulating ous. For these experiments, researchers
properties, the research engineers also sought installed test arrays on a wood truss roof,
to define safe working distances between water ignited a fuel load inside the structure
hoses and live electrical equipment. These tests and then let the fires burn uncontrolled
indicate, for example, that firefighters can elim- until the roof collapsed. The post-fire
inate hose stream shock hazard by working at a analyses revealed that while some por-
distance of 15 feet from a 600 Vdc power source tions of the arrays were completely
or 20 feet from a 1,000 Vdc source. Alternately, firefighters destroyed and produced no power, other significantly dam-
can reduce the measured current to below the level of per- aged areas still produced partial or even full power. Based
ceptibility by changing the hose stream from a solid stream on these findings, the report concludes, among other things:
to a 10 cone pattern. Other tests confirmed that tarps are Severely damaged PV arrays are capable of producing haz-
not reliably effective as a means of de-energizing a PV array, ardous conditions ranging from perception [of current]
that light striking a PV array from a fire or a fire truck is suf- to electrocution. Damage to the array can create new and
ficient to pose an electrical hazard, and that cutting into PV unexpected circuit paths.
modules or source circuits is a bad idea. This is all very prac- Unless follow-up fire research shows otherwise, it would
tical information for firefighter training purposes. be irresponsible to bet any lives on the premise that the
presence of MLPE would change these findings in any
meaningful way. According to UL standards, the safe
voltage level in wet conditions is 30 V. In the absence
of cell stringlevel disconnects, most PV modules
are capable of putting out more than 30 V under
normal operating conditions. Since module-level or
cell stringlevel rapid shutdown does not change the
Co ur te sy T i g o
inherent properties of PV cells, it is prudent for emer-
gency responders to assume that a fire-damaged
array presents a shock hazard due to the potential for
inadvertent and unexpected circuit paths.
Engineering evaluation. The authors of DNV GLs
2015 advisory, Rooftop PV Systems and Firefighter Flex MLPE Tigos TS4 platform features a universal base with
Safety, start by reviewing relevant literature, such replaceable and upgradable covers that provide different levels and
as ULs 2011 fire research findings and a joint PV combinations of functionality, including monitoring, module-level dis-
and fire industry study conducted in Germany. connection, dc optimization and increased string lengths.
Interestingly, the outcome of the joint industry anal-
ysis in Germany, the country with the largest number
of rooftop PV installations in the world, was a set of firefight- After a literature review, DNV GL researchers con-
ing guidelines that emphasize safe boundaries and tactics. ducted firefighter interviews and surveys to explore the
Because module-level technologies and standards are not procedures, issues and decisions that firefighters face
sufficiently established and have yet to prove their reliability, when carrying out operations at a building that has rooftop
the German report advises against a MLPE mandate. PV. The interviews indicate that firefighters welcome the
Measure and Maximize your
O&M is critical to the ROI of your

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choice of curve tracer
Choose the Solmetric PV Analyzer:
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improved setback and pathway requirements in the 2015 string level disconnection, access-limited conductors [and]
fire codes, but still see some room for improvement. With a mechanically protected conductors. All of these approaches
building-specific approach to pathway layout, for example, scored similarly as effective means to reduce the shock haz-
AHJs could intentionally align access pathways with the ard within arrays.
best trench-cut locations for firefighters. Rapid shutdown array standard. The DNV GL advi-
The surveys, meanwhile, indicate that firefighters are sory largely supports SEIAs contention that a prudent
indeed very concerned about the inability to eliminate or approach would be to develop a product standard for PV
significantly reduce shock hazard in the PV array. In the Equipment Safe for Proximity Firefighting. According to
short term, they need to be able to identify energized ver- their public comments, some members of CMP-4 believe
sus de-energized components. On the face of it, this sounds that rapid-shutdown PV array and PV equipment safe for
like a collective vote in favor proximity firefighting can mean the same thing. The safety
of module-level rapid shut- standard is a work in progress, they suggest, and a rose
While MLPE will likely down. However, the vast by any other name would smell the same. In this case,
majority of interviewees however, the meaning of these words could be a matter of
be one possible solution and all of those in leadership grave import.
rolesindicated that they To the uninitiated firefighter, equipment safe for proxim-
to meet the new rapid- would never directly engage ity firefighting signals: You can get close to this equipment,
with or remove damaged but not too close. Please do not touch. In contrast, module-
shutdown requirements, modules for roof ventilation. level rapid shutdown sends a misleading message: I am now
According to the report: off. While a touch-safe PV array is undoubtedly the long-
we expect that the tech- Respondents expressed the term goal, we do not yet have a product safety standard that
desire for rapid-shutdown can render a damaged PV array safe for firefighters. Granted,
nical criteria defined functions to work under dam- we can make the roof safer with the touch of a button, but
aged conditions, but none that does not mean the power is off.
in the new UL safety expected that they would. All Not surprisingly, ULs representative on CMP-4, Timothy
would treat damaged arrays Zgonena, is going into the standards development pro-
standard will also allow as energized. The authors cess with his eyes wide open. Regarding his affirmative vote
later conclude: The ability for the compromise NEC 2017 rapid-shutdown language,
for alternative solutions to further de-energize cir- Zgonena comments: UL understands the desired intention
cuits within the array is seen of the 80 V limit to reduce shock hazards. Unfortunately,
to meet NEC 2017. as a key to reducing the risk 80 V can be a lethal electric shock hazard in this application.
Hannes Knopf, head of of accidental shock, but not Further, it would be most appropriate to use a listed system
strategic product management, as a rationale for intentional consistent with the concept of 690.4(B) to limit the voltage,
SMA America interaction. The real value of rather than some assemblage of equipment not specifically
enhanced electrical protec- listed as a system. UL firmly believes that PV rapid-shutdown
tion is in its impact on deci- equipment specifically listed for this intended purpose is the
sion making, enabling firefighters to carry out and improve best solution. We have made good progress since the first revi-
operations more confidently. sion of 690.12 for the 2017 NEC. UL understands and supports
Researchers at DNV GL used an engineering evaluation the development of a science-based solution as the basis for
methodology, known as a failure mode and effects analysis, the upcoming standard.
to estimate the risks associated with different electrical haz-
ard mitigation approaches. This methodology accounts for g C O N TAC T
circumstances such as the severity of impact and the like- David Brearley / SolarPro / Ashland, OR /
lihood of occurrence and detection. The researchers then david.brearley@solarprofessional.com / solarprofessional.com
characterized the risks associated with different applica-
tions and scenarios (residential, normal operation; resi- RESOURCES
dential, single fault; commercial, normal operation; and Backstrom, Robert, and David Dini, Firefighter Safety and Photovoltaic
commercial, single fault) in the context of different product Installations Research Project, UL Report, November 2011
topologies or design decisions. These probability-weighted
DNV GL, Rooftop PV Systems and Firefighter Safety, DNV GL
results indicated that there are multiple acceptable risk
Renewables Advisory, October 2015
mitigation options, including module-level shutdown with
an 80 V limit, as well as combinations of 1- and 2-pole
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and service providers will display
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September 1315. In this preview article, I
Modeling, Measurement and Testing
AURORA SOLAR BOOTH WSUA12
Aurora Solar develops cloud-based software that enables
sophisticated solar project engineering design, provides
workflow management functionality, and facilitates sales
and customer acquisition for solar installers and financers.
The company launched in 2013 with the backing of the US
Department of Energys SunShot Initiative. The Aurora design
highlight 17 companies that provide a wide platform includes features such as 2-D and 3-D modeling,
3-D visualizations, irradiance maps and annual shade values,
range of solutions for system integrators.
Some of the equipment detailed here recently
launched or is set to launch at the event. Some
is time-tested in fielded systems across the US.
And some represents new or out-of-the-box
C o ur t es y A u ro ra S ol a r
ideas that may or may not take hold, but that

nonetheless represent the dynamic innovation
that keeps the solar industry moving forward. Aurora Solar, Booth WSUA12
ATIONAL 2016 PREVIEW
Equipment Highlights
By Joe Schwartz
automatic roof setbacks, electric bill and

financial analysis, sales proposals and
remote shading analysis, as well as engi-
neering features such as performance
simulations. Monthly and annual per seat
pricing is available, as are enterprise-
scale packages. The basic subscription is
Co u r t e sy C u r b
$159 per month, per seat, and includes
the features listed. The premium-level
product costs $259 per month, per seat,
and offers additional features including
monthly shade values, site modeling with LIDAR, NEC valida- Curb, Booth W902
tion, single-line diagrams, BOS components and detailed bills consuming. The Curb system can measure on-site energy
of materials. generation from PV systems and integrate production val-
Aurora Solar / aurorasolar.com ues with home consumption data. Curb includes a variety
of notifications for events, such as when a user has acciden-
CURB BOOTH W902 tally left on a given appliance. Additional features include a
Launched in 2012, Curb is a new entrant to the solar and power budget manager that allows users to track progress
energy efficiency market. Its home energy monitoring sys- against a monthly energy budget. The software identifies
tem offers integrators a compelling option for circuit-by- changes in consumption and provides suggestions for con-
circuit energy use monitoring and visualization at a low price serving energy and money. With the upcoming launch of
point ($399). Curb designed its data acquisition system for its home energy intelligence product, Curb plans to take its
mounting in a homes load center. The system includes 18 CT platform a step further with functionality that aims to pre-
sensors for individual circuit monitoring. This level of moni- dict appliance failure and identify required maintenance for
toring granularity facilitates specialized tasksfor example, components such as HVAC or refrigerator compressors.
determining how much energy electric vehicle charging is Curb / 844.629.2872 / energycurb.com
SPI 2016 Preview
FOLSOM LABS BOOTH 3053 short-circuit current,

At the core of San Franciscobased Folsom Labs design maximum power point
efforts is the principle that every PV system design decision voltage, current and
can and should be quantified in terms of its yield and finan- power, and insulation
cial implications. To further this goal, Folsom Labs develops resistance. In addition,
Co ur te sy Se a w a rd So l a r
HelioScope, a PV system design tool that integrates system the PV210 performs I-V
layout and performance modeling to simplify the process curve measurements in
of engineering and selling solar projects. The platform inte- accordance with IEC
grates easy-to-use design tools and bankable energy yield 61829 to determine
calculations. A core differentiator for HelioScope is that it whether the measured
is designed on a component-based model, which separately curve deviates from
models each piece of the system (individual module, con- the expected profile. Seaward Solar, Booth W824
ductor or inverter, for example). Folsom Labs offers both For full, detailed analy-
monthly and yearly subscription rates. The cost of a single- sis, users can transfer measured data from the test instrument
seat monthly subscription is $79 and includes automatic to an accompanying PVMobile Android app to create high-
CAD export, energy simulation, shade optimization, one- definition color displays of the I-V and power curves for indi-
click sharing, a component library of 45,000 items, global vidual PV modules or strings.
weather data and PAN file support. Solar professionals can Seaward Solar / 813.886.2775 / seawardsolar.com
use HelioScope to design and model PV plants with capaci-
ties of up to 5 MW.
Folsom Labs / folsomlabs.com Modules
LG SOLAR BOOTH 1447
LGs activity in solar module development dates
back to 1985, when it (under the brand GoldStar
Electronics) conducted its initial multicrystalline
PV cell R&D. Since then the South Korean com-
pany, part of the global LG Group, has rebranded
and become a household name in appliances and
personal electronics. Another LG Group subsid-
iary, LG Chem, is on the front lines of designing
Co u r t es y F olsom L a bs
and manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for use

in stationary solar-plus-storage systems. LG Solar
initiated mass production of its PV technology
in 2010. It recently announced the US availability
of its NeON 2 72-cell module models, developed
Folsom Labs, Booth 3053 for commercial and utility-
scale installations. The three LG Solar,
modelsLG365N2W-G4, LG370N2W-G4 Booth 1447
SEAWARD SOLAR BOOTH W824 and LG375N2W-G4have rated
Seaward Solar is a division of the UK-based Seaward Group. power outputs ranging from
Its line of PV test equipment is one of the more recent devel- 365 W to 375 W. The new
opment efforts in the companys 75-year history in electrical models expand LGs high-
safety test measurement instruments. Seaward Solars offer- efficiency PV lineup,
ings include products used in PV system commissioning and which includes the
operation verification, such as conductor insulation testers, 60-cell NeON 2, with
irradiance meters and I-V curve tracers. The company recently rated power out-
C ou r t es y LG S o la r
announced the launch of its new PV210 multipurpose PV tes- puts of 305 W320
ter, which combines installation and commissioning tests with W and module effi-
the ability to perform I-V curve analysis. Simple push-button ciencies of 18.6%19.5%.
operation allows users to conduct all the electrical commission- LG Solar / lgenergy.com
ing tests required by IEC 62446, including open-circuit voltage, C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 4 0
Central inverter power meets
string inverter flexibility.
The TRIO 50.0 represents the best of both worlds. It combines

the performance and price advantages of a central inverter with the
flexibility and ease-of-installation of a string inverter. With three-phase,
transformerless technology, modular concept and installation versatility,
the TRIO 50.0 was designed specifically for commercial and utility-scale
decentralized installations. So if youre looking for the flexibility of a string
inverter with the power and cost advantages of a central inverter, then look
no further. Visit www.abb.com/solarinverters/trio-50 to learn more.
SPI 2016 Preview
dc optimizers. The highest-power module, the GxB 370W,

SOLARWORLD BOOTH 911 has a power output of 370 W STC and a module efficiency
SolarWorld has more than 40 of 19.1%. Sunpreme specifies a bifacial output for the GxB
years of history in solar module 370W of 444 W, with a 20% boost in power from the module
design and manufacturing, dat- backside and a resulting module efficiency of 22.9%.
ing back to Bill Yerkes founding Sunpreme / 866.245.1110 / sunpreme.com
of Solar Technology International
and ARCO Solars development TEN K SOLAR BOOTH 759
efforts in the 1970s, the assets Ten K Solar, founded in 2008, leverages a unique nonserial
of which SolarWorld acquired. architecture with its module and integrated system design.
Today, SolarWorld offers a full line Its Apex module line includes the Apex 500W Mono (500 W
of Sunmodule products, including monocrystalline) and the Apex 440W Poly (440 W polycrystal-
two glass-on-glass bifacial Bisun line). Both modules utilize 200 half-cells connected in a matrix
models, as well as system packages (serial and parallel connections). This structure allows current
C ou r te sy S ola r Wor ld
that incorporate Quick Mount PVs to flow through multiple pathways within a module, improv-
railless Quick Rack system and ing partial shade performance, reducing the impact of soiling
power electronics from vendors and hot spots, and eliminating a single point of potential failure
such as ABB, Enphase and SMA within the module. Module-level power electronics convert the
America. In July, SolarWorld internal module voltage (<18 Vdc) to an operating voltage of
announced the launch of its SolarWorld, 35 Vdc59 Vdc. Ten K expands on this shade- and fault-tolerant
1,500 Vdcrated 72-cell SW 340 Booth 911 low-voltage parallel architecture with its ballasted DUO PV
350 XL MONO mod- system for low-slope roofs and ground-mounted arrays. The
ule line, which is available with 340 W, 345 W and DUO system configuration, which integrates groups of parallel-
350 W maximum power. The introduction of the high- connected microinverters on a shared dc bus, places rows of
voltage XL product positions SolarWorld to take advantage modules in tandem, back-to-back, to maximize power density
of the expanding deployment of 1,500-Vdc PV power plants and energy yield per square foot.
in the US. Ten K Solar / 952.303.7600 / tenksolar.com
SolarWorld / 503.844.3400 / solarworld-usa.com
SUNPREME BOOTH 2125

C ou r t e sy Te n K S ola r
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and launched in

2009, Sunpreme is differenti-
ating itself from commodity
module vendors with the dev-
elopment of thin-film, high-
efficiency, bifacial, double- Ten K Solar, Booth 759
glass frameless modules. The
company bases its unique
cell architecture on its pat- Power Electronics
ented Hybrid Cell Technology
(HCT) platform, which uti- DELTA BOOTH 2259
lizes four amorphous sili- Delta Group is the worlds largest provider of switching power
con thin-film depositions supplies and dc brushless fans, as well as power management
on surface-engineered sili- equipment, networking products and renewable energy solu-
con substrate. The frameless tions, including solar inverters. Historically, Delta has posi-
double-glass module design tioned itself somewhat behind the scenes in the US solar
Co u r t e s y S u n p reme
does not require electri- market, as other vendors have rebranded the OEMs inverter
cal grounding. Sunpremes products. However, Delta is developing its presence in the US,
Maxima GxB module line introducing new solutions to the market. Two recent examples
includes five modules, two are its 7 kW RPI H7U single-phase inverter and its 80 kW M80U
of which integrate Tigo 3-phase string inverter. The UL-certified RPI H7U features a
Sunpreme, Booth 2125 Energys TS4-L (long-string) secure power supply for limited daytime C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 4 2
SPI 2016 Preview
power production 16 source-circuit fuseholders, two 3/0 AWG terminal

when the grid is not blocks and 18 pairs of MC4 connectors for wire harness
present, and 4 MPP compatibility. With a unit weight of 180.6 pounds or less,
trackers with a full- depending on configuration, the M80U is light enough to
power MPPT range permit a two-person installation.
of 185 V470 V at Delta / delta-americas.com
240 Vac and a wide
operating voltage OUTBACK POWER
range of 30 V500 V. BOOTH 2825
Integrators continue OutBack Power designs
to deploy high- and manufactures inverter/
power 3-phase string chargers, charge control-
inverters in increas- lers, integration equipment
ingly large multi- and monitoring solutions
megawatt PV plants. C ou r te sy De lta for stand-alone and utility-
C ou r te sy Ou tBa c k P owe r
Deltas 80 kW M80U interactive battery-based
inverter will sup- renewable energy systems.
port this upward Currently a member of the
Delta, Booth 2259
capacity trend. The Alpha Group, OutBack was
inverter has a maxi- founded in 2001. Battery-
mum input voltage rating of 1,100 V, a full-power MPPT based PV systems are
range of 600 V800 V and an operating voltage range of inherently more compli-
200 V1,000 V. Options for connection on the dc side include cated than grid-direct OutBack Power, Booth 2825
Switch to innovation, switch to
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AZISNA2017_SolarPro & Home Power_86x244.qxp_Layout 1 09.08.16 08:49
ones. The accumulated experience of established power

electronics companies such as OutBack is a valuable
asset for integrators when applications require advanced
system configurations. In 2011, OutBack released its
Radian series of hybrid, utility-interactive split-phase
120/240 Vac inverter/chargers. Available in 4,000 W and
8,000 W power classes, the Radian features two ac inputs
for grid and ac generator connectivity and a high degree of
component integration. With the recent introduction of four
VRLA storage batteries optimized for specific applications
such as float service or regular deep cycling, OutBack now
offers a comprehensive product family for energy storage
applications listed to the relevant UL standards.
OutBack Power / 360.435.6030 / outbackpower.com
SMA AMERICA BOOTH 959

SMA Solar Technology was founded in 1981. Its US subsid-
iary, SMA America, was the first inverter manufacturer to
offer high-voltage string inverter models in the US mar-
North Americas
ket. In addition to developing single- and 3-phase string
inverters, SMA has also devoted significant resources to Most-Attended Solar Event
the development of high-power central inverters for multi- Moscone Center, San Francisco
megawatt medium-voltage utility-scale PV plants. As the
US and global inverter mar-
kets have evolved, more Hear it here first! Be part of the first
manufacturers are focus- major U.S. solar event of the year
18,000 visitors connect with
ing on either string invert-
550 international exhibitors
ers or central inverters.
The perfect match! Intersolar is co-located
SMA is one of a shrinking with ees (electrical energy storage)
group of inverter ven-
dors that continue to
create solutions in both
product classes for util-
ity-interactive applica-
r icaa
mer ic
tions. One example is

MAAAme
its second-generation
y SSMA
Medium Voltage Block

t e sy
for utility-scale appli-

o uru tr es
cations deploying its

CCo
Sunny Central 1850-US,

SMA America, Booth 959 2200-US and 2500-
EV central inverters.
SMAs 3-phase inverter lineup, the Sunny Tripower series,
currently includes six models with rated power capaci-
ties of 12 kW60 kW and 480 Vac output. The company has
also been redesigning its single-phase inverter family.
It recently launched updated Sunny Boy 3.0-US, 3.8-US,
co-located with
7.0-US and 7.7-US models, which join the 5.0-US and 6.0-US
models it introduced earlier this year, to provide integra- Exhibit now!
tors with greater design and installation flexibility. SMA
plans to release a high-voltage Tesla-compatible battery
inverter for the US market in early 2017. It has also made
SPI 2016 Preview
a significant investment in incorporating MLPE technol-

ogy from Tigo Energy into its systems, in anticipation of
module-level rapid-shutdown requirements in NEC 2017.
SMA America / 916.625.0870 / sma-america.com
Trackers, Racking and Mounting
C ou r te sy A r r a y Te c hno l o g i e s
ARRAY TECHNOLOGIES BOOTH 2805
Array Technologies (ATI) began manufacturing solar track-
ers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1992 and has continually
evolved, redesigned and scaled its solar tracking equipment,
systems and services in step with the solar industry, espe-
cially in the utility-scale PV plant market. ATI launched its
third-generation centralized DuraTrack HZ v3 horizontal
single-axis tracker in 2015 and continues to be a strong Array Technologies, Booth 2805
proponent of centralized tracking systems. The DuraTrack
HZ v3 has an algorithm with a GPS input tracking method allowable wind-load rating. A passive mechanical wind pro-
and a 52 tracking range of motion with backtracking tection system that does not require power to operate safe-
functionality. The systems drivetrain has sealed gearboxes guards the tracker during high-wind events and eliminates
designed to be maintenance-free for the life of the plant. The the maintenance requirements associated with active stow
DuraTrack HZ v3 has a 135 mph 3-second-gust exposure-C components. Configurations for c-Si C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 4 6
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Supports two Module-level electronics UL1741, TROV2, and Daisy chain installation STOP BY BOOTH 669
modules per inverter, mitigates shading issues NEC690.12 compliant; no trunk cable required, Solar Power International
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SPI 2016 Preview
modules include one-up in portrait orientation and two-up

in landscape orientation, as well as four-up in landscape for
thin-film modules. To speed module installation, ATI has
developed an innovative single-fastener module clamp with
integrated grounding.
Array Technologies / 855.872.2578 / arraytechinc.com
BEAMREACH SOLAR BOOTH 2941

Beamreach Solar ( formerly Solexel, founded in 2007)
C ou r te sy B e a mre a c h So l a r
showed the demo installation of its Sprint PV system to
big crowds of curious onlookers at Julys Intersolar North
America event in San Francisco. Developed specifically for
weight-constrained, low-slope commercial rooftops with
TPO membranes, the system integrates a 60-cell mono-
crystalline 290 W, 295 W or 300 W module with a compos-
ite frame and an integrated racking system. The weight per
module, including its racking components, is 38 pounds. Beamreach Solar, Booth 2941
The system is not ballasted or penetrating, but rather
adheres directly to the TPO roofing membrane. Each row single pallet. Time will tell whether the Beamreach Sprint
of modules simply snaps into the back feet of the previous system will gain traction in the field; however, its design
row. The lack of metal components eliminates the need clearly exemplifies the innovation that is happening across
for equipment grounding. For shipping, Beamreach packs the PV industry.
26 modules with integrated racking components on a Beamreach Solar / 408.240.3800 / beamreachsolar.com
Easy Install.
No Leaks.
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With the Curb Penetration
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Solar installers are increasingly turning
to CHEM LINK Curb Penetration Seals
because they are eld proven: Millions
of CHEM LINK Curbs are preventing
roof leaks throughout North America
every day. Make sure your solar
installation doesnt bring callbacks.
10 + 10 year warranty available.
Visit www.chemlink.com and view
E-Curb Penetration Seal videos that
show the easy, step-by-step eld
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Contractor hotline: 800-826-1681
SUNLINK BOOTH 2037 can mount modules one-high in portrait orientation, and
SunLink launched its first array configurations are optimized for 90 modules per
racking systems for com- 30 kWdc row. A secure modified Zigbee mesh network pro-
mercial rooftops in 2004 and vides on-site communication between the tracker control-
helped pioneer the design lers. The TechTrack Distributed system reacts intelligently to
and deployment of ballasted real-time conditions to increase generation and reduce the
PV array mounting systems. risk of damage to the power plant. Dynamic stabilization
More recently, the company provides damping during critical events such as high winds.
has been expanding its prod- The tracker is designed for 105 mph and 5 psf standard loads
uct portfolio and expertise and is configurable for wind loads of up to 150 mph and
to include project develop- snow loads of up to 60 psf.
ment and O&M, SCADA and SunLink / 415.925.9650 / sunlink.com
data monitoring services, and
PV tracker systems. SunLink
will launch its TechTrack Conductor Aggregation and Management
Distributed single-axis tracker
in Q3 2016. The self-powered CAB SOLAR BOOTH 311
tracker uses a slew drive, a Under its CAB Solar brand, the Cambria County Association
C ou r te sy S u n L in k
24 Vdc motor, a lithium-iron for the Blind and Handicapped manufactures a range of prod-
phosphate battery and an ucts that include cable rings and saddles for PV cable man-
integrated PV module to drive agement, while providing rehabilitation and employment
the tracker. Its tracking range services to persons with disabilities living in Cambria County,
of motion is 60. Installers SunLink, Booth 2037 Pennsylvania. Elevated cable systems are gaining popularity
SPI 2016 Preview
in utility-scale PV plants,
and CAB was an early sup-
plier to these projects. CAB
Solars PVC-coated rings
and saddles feature a high
Co ur te sy CAB So l a r
dielectric grade, flame-

retardant and UV-stabilized
coating, applied to 100% of
the products surface. The
resulting rings and hangers
CAB Solar, Booth 311 are electrically insulated and
C ou r te sy S o l a r BO S
durable in corrosive envi-
ronments. CAB offers an extensive range of PV wire manage-
ment solutions, including multicarrier hangers that provide
physical separation between dc source-circuit conductors,
ac cables and data transmission circuits. The company also
manufactures high-visibility safety vests, bags, pouches and SolarBOS, Booth 935
holders for the safe organization and transport of hand tools,
cordless tool batteries, meters and communication devices in ranging from 0.24 inch to 2 inches. In addition, the product
rooftop and other environments. is available with three lengths of mounting plates and 15,
CAB Solar / 814.472.5077 / cabproducts.com 30, 90 and 180 angle orientations. The Ratchet P Clamp
is designed for easy opening using a small flathead screw-
HELLERMANNTYTON BOOTH 625 driver. Installers can stack the clamps for parallel cable runs
HellermannTyton is a global manufacturer of cable man- and offset applications.
agement, identification and network connectivity products. HellermannTyton / 800.537.1512 / hellermann.tyton.com
Its North American headquarters are located in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Its products for PV applications include Solar SOLARBOS BOOTH 935
Ties and Solar E-Clips that enable flexible and secure rout- Founded in 2004, SolarBOS focused from the start on con-
ing of conductor and cable bundles. HellermannTyton also figurability, with its first product a configurable 600 Vdc
offers Solar Identification printers, labels and software source-circuit combiner box that allowed customers to spec-
systems that provide professional and durable PV system ify the number of circuits and the NEMA rating of the enclo-
labeling. Its Ratchet P Clamp is an innovative solution for sure. This approach remains a core feature of the extensive
cable management. The adjustable ratchet clamp mecha- range of combiner boxes, recombiners, disconnects, battery
nism is available in four sizes for cable bundles or conduit connection panels and cable assemblies SolarBOS offers
today, including many product versions listed for 1,000 Vdc
HellermanTyton, and 1,500 Vdc applications. In 2015, SolarBOS rolled out
Booth 625 its Wire Solutions products for deployment in the grow-
ing number of commercial and utility-scale systems that
use pre-engineered wire harness and cable assemblies. The
companys product family for these applications includes
overmolded Y harnesses with or without inline fuses, home-
run cable assemblies and combiner box whips. All wire
harness assemblies are custom manufactured to client spec-
ifications. Customers can choose from various wire gauges
and conductor jacket colors, industry-standard connectors
and custom labels at each connection point.
Co u r t es y He ll er m an Ty t o n
SolarBOS / 925.456.7744 / solarbos.com
g C O N TAC T
Joe Schwartz / SolarPro / Ashland, OR /
joe.schwartz@solarprofessional.com / solarprofessional.com
flexible & reliable
youre on the right track.
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Effective Public Rela
iS toc k
for Solar Companies

By Sarah Horn
F
or the solar industry, the sea of public opinion is milestone or hire an executive. However, the practice of PR is
not always a calm place. Solar is a maturing mar- about maintaining an authentic dialogue with stakeholders
ket shaped by shifting elementsincentives, utility and specific audiences.
regulations, tariffs, policies, cost pressures, tech-
nology, financing options and infrastructure capabilities. An PURPOSE AND VALUE OF PR
effective public relations (PR) strategy is key to successfully In 2011, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) initi-
navigating the ebbs and flows of the market, and staying rel- ated a crowdsourcing campaign of PR professionals seeking
evant within it. a modern definition of PR: the Public Relations Defined
The goal of this article is to define what constitutes an initiative. After soliciting industry input and holding a pub-
effective PR strategy and to identify the optimal approach, lic vote, the PRSA announced that the professions preferred
the available tools and the most effective ways to engage with definition of PR is a strategic communication process that
an audience. Companies often neglect PR, shelving it until builds mutually beneficial relationships between organiza-
they want coverage when they have a new product, reach a tions and their publics.
beneficial relationship with the public, not about viewing
journalists as another avenue for turning readers into leads.
Gil Jenkins is the vice president of OgilvyEarth, a collection
of sustainability experts within the larger Ogilvy & Mather com-
munications and marketing network. Jenkins notes: Theres a
tendency to view every PR activity through the prism of lead
generation. Ultimately, PR must drive sales, but this strict
mindset stifles creativity and inhibits thought leadership
opportunities that build long-term reputation and value for the
brand. The solar industry is doing very well right now, but as it
becomes more mainstream, companies will need to find their
own voice amongst the clutter. Sometimes that means buck-
ing the standard industry viewpoint. A good example of that is
what Sunnova did when their CEO wrote to Congress last year
urging them to let the tax credits expire.
Who does PR? If a company chooses to perform PR tasks
in-house, someone with a communications title or a market-
ing title or both (referred to as marcom) usually takes on these
activities. In this context, communications is simply a more
inclusive way to describe the full breadth of PR responsibili-
ties, as people tend to equate PR specifically with media rela-
tions. In many companies, the same team is often responsible
for both marketing and communications due to the inherent
crossover associated with these duties and activities.
It is very common for companies to partner with an exter-
nal PR contractor or agency. Many agencies offer marketing,
branding, website, advertising and PR services, making it easy
to streamline these initiatives if desired. Working with external
PR professionals can be valuable at any stage during a compa-
nys growth, depending on the companys goals. For example,
tions
established companies may need help to focus PR on particular
markets where growth is slower or to improve brand percep-
tion. A smaller company might need expert staff to establish
credibility and educate the market on its products.
What do they do? According to the PRSA, the role of the PR
manager or team includes the following activities:
Let us unpack this definition a bit to understand what it
is truly saying. First, it negates the idea that PR is a one-sided, P Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion,
top-down interaction in which a company or entity controls attitudes and issues that might have an impact, for good
the conversation. Yes, there is strategy involved, but PR is a or ill, on the operations and plans of the organization.
communication process. Second, it addresses the fact that PR P Counseling management at all levels in the organiza-
is interactive and should build mutually beneficial relation- tion with regard to policy decisions, courses of action
ships between an organization and its relevant audiences. and communication, taking into account their public
Note that the PRSA definition emphasizes audience engage- ramifications and the organizations social or citizen-
ment and establishing relationships. This is an important dis- ship responsibilities.
tinction: PR is not about standing on a soapbox and pushing P Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continu-
an agenda on your audiences. Rather, it should focus on foster- ing basis, programs of action and communication to
ing and facilitating two-way communications between a com- achieve the informed public understanding necessary to
pany and other constituent communities (customers, media, the success of an organizations aims. These may include
government, industry stakeholders, employees and so forth). marketing; financial disclosure; fund-raising; employee,
Marketing and sales are avenues for pushing a more obvious community or government relations; and other programs.
agenda such as lead generation and customer acquisition. P Planning and implementing the organizations efforts to
Many different stakeholders come into play within PR: the influence or change public policy: setting objectives, plan-
PR professional, the company leadership, the journalist and ning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing
the public. The dynamic gets messy when the first two cease facilitiesin short, managing the resources needed to
to consider the latter two. PR is about building a mutually perform all of the above.
Effective PR
SHARING YOUR STORY

PR has an important role to play in the solar industry. While
the US solar industry reached the milestone of 1 million
installations nationwide in May 2016, the general public is
largely unaware of the state of the industry. There is a con-
stant need to educate the publicinforming them about
new policies, lower-cost technologies and financing options,
or dispelling common misconceptions. Entrepreneurs are
constantly unveiling more efficient and cost-effective tech-
nologies that large companies and investors need to hear
about. PR is the engine that gets these stories told in the
right way to the people that matter.
Public engagement. The communication process starts
when an organization has an interesting and relevant story to
tell. That story could be company news about market expan-
sion, establishing a new partnership or reaching a milestone.
It could be a joint announcement with a customer or part-
ner about the launch or completion of some project. It could
relate to a new research report or an appearance at an indus-
try trade show or panel. That story could also serve as an
educational resource, perhaps sharing best practices or inno-
vative solutions to pain points.
But what constitutes a good story? Traditionally, PR pro-
fessionals emphasize outreach to members of the media, who
value newsworthy characteristics such as immediacy, prox-
imity, prominence, oddity, conflict, suspense, emotion and Three out of four PR professionals are generally responsible
consequence. Granted, few stories check all of these boxes, for earned, owned and shared media. In addition, they often
but most good stories have multiple newsworthy qualities. coordinate their communications activities so that these sup-
The biggest mistake I see is when companies fail to rec- port the marketing team's paid media efforts.
ognize that the standards for newsworthiness are changing,
says Kim Setliff, the vice president of Antenna Group, which Companies need to connect the dots as much as they
has a variety of solar industry clients and has served as the can from a holistic, storytelling and messaging perspective,
press agency for Intersolar North America. In years past, she notes Tara Holmes, a communications strategist working
continues, every nonresidential contract signed and proj- in the renewable energy space. Holmes elaborates: While
ect commissioned was guaranteed to receive attention from solar has made major inroads over the last few years as
industry trade publications, if not from business publica- panel prices decrease, many people continue to see access
tions. Today, these stories are a dime a dozen. What is needle- to solar as a highly technical obstacle. Community solar pro-
moving to a business is not always going to land on the front grams and citywide requirements, such as San Franciscos
page. To make these stories stick, its important to delve Better Roofs Ordinance, are helping to break these barriers
deeper into the news. Superlatives such as first or largest and increase access on both a residential and commercial
certainly help with differentiation, but keep in mind that each scale. Targeted communications can support this ongoing
qualifier can make the news less compelling. The largest grid- outreach and education effort. The solar industry has many
tied project in Ohio using dual-axis trackers and installed on opportunities to raise its voice and get involved, from high-
a Wednesday is probably not going to grab a lot of eyeballs. lighting stories about clean energy and green jobs to show-
While todays PR professionals have multiple avenues for casing the impact solar has on reducing energy bills.
communicating directly with key audiences, including buy- Participating in the industrys dialogue is the primary
ers, the same basic principles of newsworthiness apply. For reason why it is important for companies to share their
example, a unique human interest story that is both timely stories. This is an ongoing process as you will not always
and relevant will have more impact than a press release have incredibly relevant news to announce. However, you
about an undifferentiated project. PR professionals should can still add to the conversation by publishing case stud-
put all of their company announcements through the same ies, posting on social media or participating in events.
filter that news editors apply to potential stories. Companies that hesitate to engage in C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 5 4
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Effective PR
this ongoing dialogue will have a hard time get-

ting traction when they do have a big announce-
ment. Rather than dump big news on the table a
few times a year, you want to sprinkle news out
continuously, whether in the form of a contrib-
uted article, a blog post or a press release.
PR also plays an important role in establish-
ing customer awareness and eventually building
relationships with people. While marketing and
sales are also part of this dynamic, these activi-
ties have a more obvious goal and often involve
some type of paid media (advertising). Through
PR, customers hear about the successes and mer-
its of a company through indirect avenues. These
earned ( free) media mentions are one of the main
goals of PR efforts.
Media Engagement. When companies have Earned media Unpaid media mentionssuch as this interview with
a good story to share, PR professionals need to Aaron Hall, CEO of Borrego Solar, which ran in the San Diego Business
determine how best to deliver this to the right Journalare a primary goal of PR efforts.
media outlet based on the desired audience. Some
stories are better suited for certain types of articles or publi- lets. Lastly, you can choose between high-volume (wire ser-
cations than for others. Similarly, some types of articles are vices, for example) and highly targeted (tailored email lists,
better suited for certain types of publications or media out- for example) distribution methods. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 5 6
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Effective PR
the editor. Press releases distributed via

wire services are ideal for sharing formal
announcements with a wide range of media
outlets and publications. Media alerts or
advisories distributed via email can notify
assignment editors and members of the
media about upcoming events, such as a
press conference or ground-breaking cer-
emony. Contributed or bylined articles are
an excellent opportunity for companies
to share their expertise on relevant and
newsworthy topics via known authors.
Op-ed articles (which run opposite the edi-
torial page) are opinion pieces contributed
by industry leaders. Some publications also
publish project or product profiles. PR pro-
fessionals typically also manage company
blogs and social media, as well as other
opportunities for exposure such as speaking
Contributed content Bylined articles that are educational rather than just a
engagements and award submissions.
sales pitchsuch as this SolarPro article by Paul Grana and Paul Gibbs (Nov/
Communication method. In terms of breadth
Dec 2014)are an excellent way to reach and engage audiences.
of reach, nothing beats press release wire ser-
vices such as Business Wire, Marketwired, PR
Publication and story type. It is important for PR profes- Newswire and PRWeb. These fee-based services distribute your
sionals to recognize that different types of publications press releases online via a syndicated network of websites, as
have different goals, audiences, standards of newswor- well as to journalists and publications that subscribe to the
thiness and article development lead times. A story that wires feed. Since wire services offer varying levels of distribu-
is relevant to an online solar industry news aggregator tion services and price structures, it is easy for a company to
may not be a good fit for a general interest magazine. An find an option that meets its goals. Benefits vary according the
article that is ideal for a regional daily may not be suitable wire service. They may include distribution to Bloomberg ter-
for a monthly publication with national circulation. These minals, inclusion in news database archives, automated social
distinctions present both a challenge and an opportunity. media posts, and optional monitoring and tracking tools.
You may find that you can adapt some stories for both gen- At Borrego Solar, a full-service solar EPC and O&M pro-
eral interest audiences and specialty audiences that read vider serving commercial and utility markets, we typically
business or trade publications as well as for regional or use press release wire services to announce the completion
national audiences. of high-profile projects or to share company milestones. The
News aggregators, on one hand, often produce only a wire services distribute our press releases to hundreds of
small amount of original material in-house, relying instead on websites within their syndication networks. In some cases,
collecting and distributing news stories from other sources. this is the end of the road for the release. Often, however,
Many magazines, on the other, rely specifically on original con- online news aggregators republish these press releases ver-
tent, whether developed in-house or contributed by outside batim or publish news briefs based on the original release.
authors. Newspapers, whether national or regional, typically Ideally, a press release will pique the interest of a journal-
combine both approaches. Online publications, especially ist or publisher, which can lead to follow-up media coverage.
blogs, get frequent updates and tend to take a more infor- On June 1, 2016, for example, The Mercury News, based in San
mal and interactive approach than print publications. When Jose, California, mentioned Borrego Solar in an article about
working with bloggers, be aware that they may not necessar- local schools going solar. This coverage followed on the heels
ily adhere to traditional journalistic ethics and guidelines. of our May 16 press release, Campbell Union School District
When working with print publications, especially monthly Will Save $8.2 Million with 1.5 Megawatts of Solar Capacity.
or bimonthly magazines, be aware that content development By framing our customers story in a way that was relevant to
takes place weeks or months in advance of the issue date. a regional audience, we were able to garner earned media cov-
In terms of story type, PR professionals have many tools erage in a daily newspaper serving Silicon Valley, which has a
at their disposal, including feature stories and letters to strong solar market.
While it can be tempting to rely on PR news-
wires or industry databases, more targeted and
personal outreach methods may better serve
PR professionalsespecially those working in
niche markets such as solar. Reporters and edi-
tors often receive a high volume of press releases
and story pitches in their inboxes, many of
which are off-topic. The more something looks
like a generic PR campaign, the more likely it is
to end up in a spam filter or go unread and land
in a trash folder.
To the extent that you understand your
audience, you can tailor your outreach and cut
through the noise. That could be as simple as
personalizing your greeting or differentiating
your deliverables based on beatfor example, Visual content A small investment in visual content, such as photos and
modifying your pitch to a business journal as videos, can repay itself many times over. Not only are photos important for
opposed to a trade publication. You might also media kits, but also you can provide these to media representatives upon
do your homework to see what stories a reporter request or use these assets to increase the effectiveness of social media
or media outlet has recently covered. That way posts, as shown here.
you know your pitch is both relevant and does
not duplicate recent coverage. If it does, consider using a let- contributed articles combine deep expertise and passion.
ter to the editor to enhance and forward the conversation. He encourages authors to avoid the use of jargon and write
Good PR speaks to peoples interests on the chan- in plain English. He also decries the use of bullet points
nels theyre paying attention to with information they and numbered lists: Digiday rejects all articles, without an
can use, explains Silvio Marcacci, principal at Marcacci edit, that have these. Its a sure sign the author hasnt really
Communications. In todays world of different devices and thought through the piece and is instead falling back on
myriad outlets, its easy to chase the newest shiny object by talking points.
generating multiple pieces of content for each PR compo-
nent. But I like creating fewer pieces of high-value content PR BEST PRACTICES
that can be repurposed in other ways and channels. The best Your company must have a comprehensive PR plan set up in
example of this is contributed content authored by an expert advance for large initiatives. To execute this plan, you need
within an organization. to have the right PR assets in place. You must also be able to
Marcacci continues: Most industry outlets accept some quantify the success of PR initiatives for company executives.
form of bylined article. This is one of the best ways to create a Lastly, remember that the quality of your message and media
name for your signatory and expand brand awareness while relations matters.
controlling message and content. If you pick a topic thats in PR plan. A well-planned PR campaign requires a clear
the news, you can add insight or contextfor example, how understanding of your objectives and goals. Are you setting
developers can approach community solar project finance out to establish your companys expertise or to build good-
or how to hedge against unanticipated policy changes. You will? If so, you need to identify your target audience. Are you
create quality content suitable for placement in a target looking to build a strong brand ethos or identity? If so, you
media outlet and have content tailor-made for repurpos- need to define the ideas and values essential to that effort.
ing into email newsletters, social media content, company Are you trying to launch a new product or generate leads?
blogs, and spokesperson or conference pitches. If so, you need to have quantifiable objectives and specific
The challenge is finding the subject matter expert timelines for accomplishing these goals.
who can cover topics in an engaging way that is not I believe the foundation of truly breakthrough PR is
self-promotional. In a blog post entitled Editors Note: based on clear articulation of your brands purpose in the
Why Contributed Articles Fail, Brian Morrissey, the presi- world, says Jenkins. At OgilvyEarth, we call this the big
dent and editor in chief at Digiday, says: You can tell IdeaL. Its about uncovering a point of view on the big and
PR-written pieces from a mile away. Theyre as dull as dish- small topics of the day, and then matching that against a
water, clumsy in their attempts to sneak in a product pitch brands best self, based on the companys core service and
and devoid of passion. Morrissey notes that successful history. People flock to brands that express a point of view
Effective PR
consumers can identify with. Its not that different from how Jason Morris, West Coast general manager and executive
we act when making friends, responding best to those peo- vice president at InkHouse, concurs: Visual content is essen-
ple whose ideals we respect. tial. Social media platforms are so pervasive, mobile content
At Borrego Solar, we use a comprehensive PR plan tem- consumption is growing and media outlets increasingly eval-
plate for large initiatives. This template provides an overview uate reporters based on metrics such as story engagement
of the initiative and defines its goals, key messages, secondary and social shares. Graphics, video and other visual elements
messages, strategies and tactics, press assets, key spokespeo- have never been more important to a PR program.
ple, measurement of success and timeline. Further, we track Quantifying results. PR works in indirect ways, which chal-
deliverables and due dates for all of our tactics and leads. lenges PR professionals to show a direct link between PR ini-
PR assets. While a good topic or pitch is central to a PR tiatives and increased sales or market share. Nevertheless,
campaign, you also must have the right PR assets to enrich you can use metrics such as social media mentions, website
the story or provide context. The PR department needs to impressions and earned media circulation in your reports to
ensure that it has access to assets such as company spokes- senior executives. Even if you are just creating a short cover-
persons, media kits, photos and videos, as these could make age report, you should take every opportunity to quantify and
the difference between having your story featured on the front communicate the impact of PR initiatives. The value of PR
page or relegated to a news brief. takes on a clearer picture if you can show that you are moving
If your companys PR department, agency or contractor is the needle in a positive direction.
not pushing for appropriate PR assets, that should send up a When measuring the value of PR media results, PR pro-
red flag. At a minimum, every PR campaign needs a subject fessionals have traditionally grounded their conclusions on
matter expert. This is nonnegotiable as this is the spokes- circulation, readership, reach, advertising value equivalency
person whom you quote in your press materials. This or impressions. Circulation is a function of the number of cop-
spokesperson should be able to talk about the genesis and ies a publication has distributed or sold. You can find circula-
development of the news at hand, as well as provide context tion numbers on a publications website or in its advertising
for why it is important and relevant. or media kit, as well as via media databases such as Cision or
A media kit is another valuable PR asset. These days, Meltwater if you have a PR software subscription. Readership
media kits can come in many formatsfor example, a PDF accounts for the fact that the total number of readers for print
with hyperlinks or a password-protected website. You can media is often larger than the circulation, due to pass-along
also use file-sharing services such as Dropbox or Box, or hand readers. It is common practice to estimate readership by
out memory sticks to members of the press. multiplying circulation by some factor such as two or three
Ideally, the media kit includes everything required to tell times. Ideally, publishers derive this value based on audience
the complete story of your announcement or initiative. For survey results. Reach describes the cumulative audience for
instance, say your company is holding an event to celebrate television or radio. Broadcast monitoring services such as
the completion of a pilot project demonstrating the commer- Cision or Nielsen provide these audience measurements. The
cial viability of your product. In addition to the media alert for advertising value equivalency (AVE) estimates the monetary
the event and the press release announcing pilot results, the value of earned media as compared to paid advertising. PR
media kit should include photos of the pilot project, photos professionals estimate AVE based in part on size and place-
of the product, a product description, performance data from ment. Finally, impressions are the number of people who may
the pilot project, an event itinerary and company contact have been exposed to the coverage. For example, if an article
information. In other scenarios, such as the announcement of appeared in both print and online for the same publication,
an executive hire, you might need to include a company back- it would have a number of impressions equal to the circula-
grounder (an about us document), a fact sheet and manage- tion or readership plus the number of unique website visitors.
ment or staff profiles. Subscription-based media databases or online services such
It is also a good idea to build an archive of high-quality as Alexa or Quantcast provide unique visitor counts.
photo and video resources. Each week, we receive requests At Borrego Solar, we also track website visitor traffic before
from journalists, partner companies or industry organiza- and after publication of media coverage to get a sense of the
tions asking whether Borrego Solar has photos they can use in impact a PR initiative may have on sales. While no single piece
various capacities. We welcome these requests because it not of data provides a true indication of sales resulting from PR,
only validates our investment in aerial photography, but also we can get an idea of what is going on by layering data gath-
provides coverage since we require a courtesy photo credit. In ered via new digital tools over more traditional metrics.
some cases, these photos run in articles that would not other- Marketing automation platforms, for example, can create
wise mention Borrego Solar. trackable links or custom redirects that C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 6 0
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Effective PR
generate cookies capturing the IP address of anyone

clicking on them. When we use these links and redi-
Quantifying Earned Media Coverage
rects in our press releases and social media posts, Type of Example How to Quantify
we can detect the unique activity associated with Coverage
specific website visitors. Ideally, some of these visi- Print article Newspaper or magazine (New Use circulation numbers and include reprints
tors will provide a name and email address by filling York Times, WIRED, and so on) in other print publications where applicable
out an online form, and will then become custom- Online article Online-only publication (Huffington Use unique visitors and include reprints on
ers. If so, we can track that transaction back to the Post ) or online version of print or other websites; online readership is different
original press release or social media post via the broadcast story than print or broadcast audience
custom redirect. If you do not have access to market- Newswire Story picked up by wire services Use the circulation or unique visitor numbers
ing automation tools, you can create a trackable link such as Associated Press, Dow for each organization running the story, as
using Bitly. While you will not be able to track indi- Jones and Reuters each has a unique readership
vidual website visitors, you can track the number of Broadcast Television or radio coverage Use audience data from broadcast monitoring
times they clicked on the link and when they did so. segment services; each airing counts as a unique hit,
Google Analytics is useful for understanding as audiences change during the day
inbound referrals. This service allows us to see Analyst Market research reports (GTM Availability of circulation or subscriber data
what websites visitors were on before coming to report Research, IHS and so on) varies; use unique website visitor data as a
our site. If someone clicks on a link to our web- last resort
site in an article that appeared in SolarPro, we e-newsletter Opt-in electronic newletters Use circulation numbers or impressions
see solarprofessional.com as a referral website. Social media Shares, likes, retweets and so on Use platform analytics reports to quantify
You can also use PR monitoring platforms such reach and engagement
as Cision or TrendKite to track and compare your Web Video on sharing site (YouTube, Use view count, unique visitor views or
companys media mentions versus those of com- streaming Vimeo and so on) or media website, producers listener or subscriber count
petitors. The goal of this share of voice analysis podcast episode and so forth
is to ensure that your company has a stronger Forum post Mention or thread on internet Use number of unique visitors
share than the competition. message board or discussion group
Quality over quantity. To provide value, PR profes-
sionals must be familiar with the topics and geog- How many hits? This table provides guidance on how to quantify
raphy that a journalist, publication or outlet covers earned media coverage for different media. A source must mention your
before making a pitch. If you do not have a lot of company at least once to constitute coverage.
resources to devote to media relations, keep your
media list small and focus on those contacts with whom you approach purchasing a home appliance. If a solar company
have a personal relationship rather than sending out generic cannot articulate its value proposition or key differentiators,
email pitches to a wide distribution list. You might get less it will lose business to a competitor that can.
overall coverage, but the quality will likely be better. Morris at InkHouse adds: Companies need to focus on
Prior to the release of Googles Penguin 2.0 algorithm, many why they exist and not what they do. This boosts relevance
PR professionals used press releases as search engine optimi- to stories being written and reported every single day, while
zation tools. Today, Google no longer places much value on communicating a narrative that cuts across diverse audiences
press releases because so many companies have been publish- such as customers, investors and other stakeholders. Some
ing links to their websites without delivering valuable content. solar companies still portray the industry as a scrappy under-
The best way to get your news out there while increasing web- dog movement. While this gets solar supporters excited,
site traffic is to have a good story to tell and to develop quality thats not the audience you need to move. It is time to shift
content. This means PR professionals need to stay current and messages and communications to a story of inevitability: The
adapt their message in light of changing public perception. US and other major economies around the globe are not going
Dont be afraid to try something different, says Antenna back to coal and diesel as sources of energy, and advances in
Groups Setliff. The face of the solar customer is changing, energy storage will continue to make renewables more eco-
and its crucial to be responsive to that. If the story thats nomically attractive over time.
worked for a decade no longer works, evolve it. If you dont,
someone else will. Setliff concludes: Smart messaging is g C O N TAC T
the foundation of any successful PR program. Solar custom-
Sarah Horn / Borrego Solar / Oakland, CA / shorn@borregosolar.com /
ers are savvier than ever before, and were nearing the point
borregosolar.com
where consumers approach PV system adoption the way they C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 5 8
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Interview An Experienced Perspective
Tristan Kreager, Fronius USA

Advancing Power Electronics for Energy Storage and
Decentralized Solar Designs
I n 2014, Fronius USA began rolling
out its SnapINverter generation of
single and 3-phase string inverters for
support of Solar Energy International
and its training initiatives, I got my
technical background up to speed. I
PV projects in North America. In 2015, started attending every trade show in
Fronius shared the headlines with Tesla the industry and networking as much as
as one of two inverter manufacturers possible to get a good understanding of
developing highdc-voltage multiport the markets, the trends and the players.
inverters for integration with Teslas In 2008, I cofounded Stellar
Powerwall Home Battery. Tristan Roofing and Solar, a grid-tied solar
Kreager serves as director of solar and roofing company in the Front
energy at Fronius USA, where he is in Range of Colorado that evolved into
charge of all sales, strategy and market- Stellar Energy Contractors. Our focus
ing efforts. Previously, Kreager was the was primarily residential. We did both
manager of hybrid energy solutions grid-tied and remote off-grid installa-
for SMA America. He has been active tions, as well as energy efficiency
in the renewables industry since 1994, projects that leveraged Colorado
C ou r te sy F ron iu s US A
specializing in remote off-grid and grid- rebates for window upgrades and
interactive backup systems, including other energy efficiency measures. I
industrial-scale microgrid applications. transitioned from Stellar in 2010 to
AEE Solar, which David Katz founded.
SP: What was your introduction to solar My role was as the territory sales
energy? manager for the central US, and
Tristan Kreager, Fronius USA As
TK: In 1993 I was up in Montana, living included design and support of both
Fronius USAs director of solar energy,
and going to school. A few friends and I grid-tied and off-grid residential and
Kreager has a decade of experience
purchased some land off the grid about commercial systems.
in diverse solar and energy storage
eight miles from the closest paved road. Eventually I decided to shift into
markets and applications.
We needed power to charge batteries the manufacturing side of the indus-
and get the lights turned on. Purely out try, specifically power electronics. I started targeting the mining industry
of necessity, we located some PV moved over to SMA America and and designing systems where PV was
modules and old locomotive starting served as its off-grid sales manager essentially a negative load on diesel-
batteries. We used solar energy to power for the US. Our group worked on dominant hybrid or off-grid systems.
my house and the two additional homes residential as well as commercial and These projects often didnt involve
we built on the property. That early industrial applications. It was a very batteries. That market has been
experience off-grid led to my initial unique and interesting experience. slowly evolving, and were seeing
understanding of the technology and got We were getting a lot of practical much more demand as businesses
me interested in the industry. For several insights into the battery-backup like Caterpillar and Cummins move
years, I supported friends who were market as it was starting to trend into these markets.
looking to move off the grid and helped higher. That department within SMA In April of 2015, I moved over to
them understand what they needed to evolved into the hybrid energy Fronius as a national sales manager for
get their homesteads set up. division, which focused on off-grid all products, and in October I was given
and battery-backup applications, but the opportunity to take on the entire
SP: When did you begin working in the also PV diesel offset, a new market solar division from a sales, marketing
industry and what positions have you held? segment. We assessed global opportu- and service perspective. Thats my
TK: In 2007, I decided to actively pursue nities, and one of the most intriguing current role for the US market.
grid-tied solar as a career. Through the was the mining industry. So we C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 6 4
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Arizona, Ohio, Indiana, Alabama
Interview
SP: The buzz surrounding grid-tied exclusively on IEEE, UL
energy storage has continued to We anticipate, moving forward, that and NEC requirements
increase in the last year. Whats the sta- and who sits on various
tus of Fronius Primo Hybrid system? a significant portion of the grid-tied market standardization com-
TK: We are in the midst of the R&D mittees. Were dedicated
and initial launch of our Primo will involve an energy storage element. to ensuring standardiza-
Hybrid product, which Fronius is tion across the industry.
developing to provide backup
capabilities and ancillary services for SP: Were seeing the
the US grid-tied market. Fronius one. JLMs target markets for the ongoing trend of integrators deploying
International has already successfully Energizer 200 include self-supply, time 3-phase string inverters in larger sys-
launched residential energy storage of use and load shifting. tems. Do you see that trend continuing?
products in Europe and Australia, and TK: Weve been shipping the Symo
were seeing significant traction in SP: What will string inverter systems look inverter in the US for more than a year
those markets. Our key partners like if module-level shutdown is required now, and were seeing it widely
include Tesla as well as our own in the 2017 Code cycle? accepted throughout the entire
Fronius Energy Package. The latter is a TK: Good question. Our understanding commercial and industrial market.
comprehensive Fronius-branded is that the market is shifting toward Historically, Fronius has been known
solution that includes lithium-ion module-level shutdown, and we are more as a residential inverter player.
storage technologies. The US version of preparing for that. Fronius will con- Since the release of Symo, were
the Primo Hybrid will incorporate tinue building a strong string-inverter catching a lot of positive traction within
both dc and ac coupling, and allow for product portfolio. Our feeling is that the commercial and industrial space.
multiple dc inputs as well as an input module-level optimization and shut- We are seeing system sizes in which
for the seamless retrofitting of existing down functionality options will be that product is being specd growing
PV systems. integrated into the modules them- every month. In the past, central
The business case for energy storage selves. Ultimately, thats where we see inverters were specd into almost any
in the US on the residential side is slowly things heading. Currently its tough for megawatt-plus project. Now were
growing. As we head into 2017 and the customers to assess the added cost seeing that trend starting to increase to
beyond, were expecting that the deploy- if module-level power electronics dont 10 or 20 megawatt-plus projects for
ment of these systems is going to increase add benefits to the system itself beyond central inverters. The string inverter
dramatically. Right now were seeing rapid shutdown. From our perspective, market is really consuming the lions
business cases in markets such as Hawaii we want to satisfy Code requirements at share of anything less than that.
and also some incentive-driven markets the lowest cost possible.
such as California. We anticipate, moving SP: Fronius USA is headquartered in
forward, that a significant portion of the SP: Is Fronius actively involved in stan- Portage, Indiana, where you do some
grid-tied market will involve an energy dardization efforts that will streamline manufacturing, right?
storage element. interoperability between components as TK: Correct. Fronius USAs
requirements for functionality such as 400,000-square-foot facility opened
SP: What development efforts are rapid shutdown evolve? 4 years ago. Were really dedicated to
under way in Fronius partnership TK: Standardization is key for the supporting and promoting US manu-
with JLM Energy? industry in general. Fronius has been facturing and jobs, to which our
TK: JLM offers the Energizer 200 very progressive from both a technol- Portage facility lends itself. The
platform. It has come up with a creative ogy and a standardization standpoint. manufacturing line for our US residen-
solution to integrate its energy storage For instance, we are the initial inverter tial Primo inverter products has been
products with our existing Primo and partner within the SunSpec Alliance, a up and running for the last 2 years. We
Symo string inverter platforms. Our trade alliance of over 70 solar and have plans to expand additional
R&D team has worked closely with JLM storage industry participants. Weve product lines based on demand, and
on communications efforts that remained very dedicated to such well look into potential line expan-
leverage our open Modbus interface, standardization efforts and believe they sions in the next year.
with the goal of ensuring that theres are crucial to driving down costs and
seamless integration between compo- accelerating industry growth. In fact, SP: Last fall you conducted interviews
nents and that the solution is a robust we have a specialist whose time is spent at the inaugural C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 66
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Interview
biggest takeaways was how those technologies have evolved
Conversations with our industry pioneers hearing about the battles into the systems and equipment we
that were waged through- use today, including next-generation
shed some light on lessons learned and out the course of the past energy storage.
10, 20, 30 years, whether it
what we, the industrys next generation, be grid acceptance or net SP: Its super interesting to watch things
metering, and learning come full circle in terms of energy stor-
need to be doing collectively. that many of the battles age, but in a fresh technological way and
from years past are still for new markets and applications.
Solar Pioneer Party in Humboldt County, being fought today. Those conversa- TK: Were seeing great market
California. What was that experience like, tions definitely shed some light on potential right now in relation to
interviewing many of the visionaries and lessons learned and what we, the energy storage. You can note a lot of
entrepreneurs who founded the US PV industrys next generation, need to be similarities when you compare the
industry in the 1970s and 80s? doing collectively through legislation early adoption of PV and net metering
TK: Being able not only to meet but and cooperative industry politics. We within the existing grid infrastructure
also to interview many of our indus- need to keep the pressure on to keep to todays expanding energy storage
trys founding pioneers was truly one the progress of the US PV industry markets. There are a lot of lessons
of the highlights of my entire solar moving forward. to be learned from that early adop-
career. Those conversations helped me It was really unbelievable to hear tion that can be applied to the
understand those pioneers experi- what it took from a design and adaptation of energy storage tech-
ences firsthand, their outlook on life integration standpoint to develop the nologies to meet the opportunities
and their perspectives on evolving PV early off-grid systems and the technol- todays solar markets and future
markets over the years. One of the ogy choices that were availableand markets will present.
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Projects System Profiles
Sunsense Solar
Garfield County Airport Solar Array (Phase 2)
C ou r te sy S u n se n se S ola r (4)
Overview
DESIGNER: Jeff Lauckhart, lead
T he Clean Energy Collective (CEC)
developed the Garfield County
Airport Solar Array project as an 858 kW
two sites. The solution (GCASA Phase 2)
was to straddle the original array by split-
ting the new array into Site A (599.4 kW)
PV designer, Sunsense Solar,
community solar array (GCASA Phase 1) to the west and Site B (226.8 kW) to the
sunsensesolar.com
and commissioned it in 2011. CEC has its east. This approach proved challenging on
LEAD INSTALLER: Mark Item, roots in Carbondale, Colorado, and has several levels.
commercial site supervisor,
a long-standing and continuing partner- From a product perspective, GCASA 1
Sunsense Solar
ship with Sunsense Solar, also based and GCASA 2 deploy markedly different
DATE COMMISSIONED: April 2016 in Carbondale. Equally integral to the components that required different design
INSTALLATION TIME FRAME: project was Holy Cross Energy (HCE), the and installation approaches. GCASA 1
110 days local cooperative utility. Since the early consists of helical piers and racking from
LOCATION: Rifle, CO, 39.5N 2000s and at the request of its customers, Solar FlexRack, polycrystalline modules
SOLAR RESOURCE: 5.8 kWh/m2/day HCE has been incentivizing
ASHRAE DESIGN TEMPS:
and interconnecting PV
93.2F 2% average high, -7.6F systems within its service ter-
extreme minimum ritory in western Colorado.
ARRAY CAPACITY: 826.2 kWdc
After completing this
first phase, CEC wanted to
ANNUAL AC PRODUCTION:
1,300 MWh
expand its community solar
reach within HCE territory
and approached Sunsense
with the possibility of expand-
ing the GCASA site. The size
of the expansion, fixed at
826 kW, required developing
from Hanwha Equipment Specifications
Solar and central MODULES: 7,344 First Solar
inverters from FS4112A-2, 112.5 W STC, +5/-5%,
Advanced Energy. 1.60 Imp, 70.2 Vmp, 1.75 Isc, 87.7 Voc
In contrast, INVERTERS: 3-phase 277/480 Vac
GCASA 2 includes service, 26 SMA America Sunny
TerraSmart Tripower 24000TL-US, 24 kW; nine
ground screws and Sunny Tripower 20000TL-US, 20 kW;
racking, First Solar two Sunny Tripower 15000TL-US, 15
thin-film modules kW; 1,000 Vdc maximum input, 150
and a decentral- 1,000 Vdc operating voltage range
ized design that ARRAY: 5,328 modules Site A, 2,016
uses SMA America string inverters. trench in the spring to the point where it modules Site B; nine modules per
Site A simply extended the original required further restoration. source circuit (1,012.5 W, 1.6 Imp,
side-of-runway location and featured Sunsense considered several strate- 631.8 Vmp, 1.75 Isc, 789.3 Voc); 28
source circuits (typical) per SMA
the same 20 south-facing slope. A gies, including overhead lines and exten-
Sunny Tripower 24000TL-US (28.35
portion of Site B has the same south- sive trenching, for utility interconnection
kW, 44.8 Imp, 631.8 Vmp, 49 Isc,
sloping topography, with the balance at Site A. HCE proved to be particularly 789.3 Voc); 826.2 kWdc array total
relatively flat. While this sloped surface adept at running service lines in a variety
ARRAY INSTALLATION: Ground-
assisted Sunsense in achieving the sys- of geotechnical conditions throughout
mount, TerraSmart TerraFarm racking
tem design tilt, it resulted in significant the mountains of western Colorado. system, 180 azimuth, 30 tilt
issues with construction, particularly Ultimately, the utility determined that
SOURCE CIRCUIT COMBINERS:
through the winter months when ice the best and safest route for the intercon-
37 SMA America Connection Unit
and snow made things tricky. When nection would be through the adjacent CU1000-US-10; First Solar four-string
the weather warmed up, the mud was restored Dry Creek drainage. fused harnesses combine eight source
equally problematic. The solution was With the guidance of our developer circuits on each array table into two
to utilize tracks, chains and other trac- partners at CEC, the operations crew at sets of PV output circuits; each four-
tion methods on all equipment and, Holy Cross Energy and our subcontractors string PV output circuit is landed on a
during some phases, to wait for drier from Expert Electric and Lyons Fencing, 20 A fused input in an SMA Connec-
conditions. Upon completion, the site Sunsense Solar was able to address chal- tion Unit
required significant restoration. lenges and provide solutions leading to SYSTEM MONITORING: Accuenergy
The utility interconnection was an an extremely successful expansion of the AcuPanel 9100 Series revenue grade
additional challenge. The project team Garfield County Airport Solar Array. meter, AlsoEnergy performance moni-
brought utility power to the GCASA 1 Mark Item, Sunsense Solar toring and portfolio management
site via an overhead line. The
team determined that construc-
tion of Site B would require
excavating a 700-foot trench
from the switchgear to the exist-
ing transformer at GCASA 1.
With the trenching, conduit and
conductor installation, and back-
filling scheduled to begin during
the winter months, the thaw-
ing of the ground collapsed the
Advertiser Index
Company Page Company Page
ABB 39 OMCO Solar 63
AEE Solar 25 OutBack Power Technologies 11
Allied Moulded 26 Phocos 28
Array Technologies 49 Pika Energy 7
Baywa r.e. 23 PV Labels 44
Brilliant Rack 1 Quick Mount PV 13
CAB Solar 24 RBI Solar 59
Chem Link 46 Roof Tech 17
Chint Power Systems IFC Socomec 42
DPW Solar 54 Solar Pathfinder 66
Ecotech Training 65 SolarBOS IBC
Franklin Electric 15 SolarEdge 35
Fronius 21 SolarPro subscription 67
GameChange Solar 9 SolarWorld 55
Ginlong Solis 41 Solmetric 22, 33
HEYCO 31 Standing Seam Roof Anchor 47
Intersolar North America 2017 43 Stiebel Eltron 29
IREC 70 Sunlink 53
IronRidge 30 Ten K Solar 27
LG 2, 3 Trojan Battery 5
Magnum Energy 45 Unirac 61
MidNite Solar 66 Valentin software 70
MT Solar 32 YaskawaSolectria Solar BC
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70 1
S O L A R PR O | September/October 2016 25.04.16 10:35
Projects
groSolar
Mustang Solar (South and North Sites)
C ou r te sy groS ola r (2)

Overview
DESIGN AND INSTALLATION FIRM:
M ustang Solar is a 3 MWdc solar
project developed, designed
and constructed by groSolar for the
government, commercial, industrial and
utility entities.
Mustang Solar comprises two sites
groSolar, grosolar.com
Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) util- (Mustang South and Mustang North) and
ENERGIZATION DATE: May 2015
ity. groSolar is a large commercial- and deploys both tracked and fixed arrays.
(Mustang South), August 2015
utility-scale solar development, engi- groSolar engineers utilized NEXTracker
(Mustang North)
neering, procurement and construction distributed tracking technology on the
INSTALLATION TIME FRAME:
firm with more than 15 years of experi- North site to achieve the projects desired
68 days (Mustang South), 116 days
ence. Since inception, the company has electrical production on a small parcel
(Mustang North)
built more than 2,000 solar projects for of undeveloped land adjacent to OG&Es
LOCATION: West Oklahoma City,
a wide variety of customers, including Mustang Station, an existing natural
OK, 35.5N, 97.7W
gasfueled
SOLAR RESOURCE: 5.4 kWh/m2/day power plant. The
ASHRAE DESIGN TEMPS: 96.8F 2% designers cre-
average high, 6.8F extreme minimum ated the Mustang
ARRAY CAPACITY: 3 MWdc Solar project as a
ANNUAL AC PRODUCTION: 5,500 MWh test bed of solar
technology for
OG&E, while it
also provides
significant power
to the utilitys
Projects
Equipment Specifications
MODULES, MUSTANG SOUTH: 2,091
Trina Solar TSM-PD14, 310 W STC,
+3/-0%, 37 Vmp, 8.38 Imp, 45.5 Voc,
8.85 Isc
INVERTERS, MUSTANG SOUTH:
18 YaskawaSolectria Solar PVI 28TL,
28 kW, 1,000 Vdc maximum input,
500800 Vdc MPPT range, 3-phase
480 Vac output; inverter outputs
collected in 480 Vac panelboards
and switchboards; collected output
stepped up to 12.47/7.2 kV and con-
nected to an OG&E distribution feeder
ARRAY, MUSTANG SOUTH: 17
modules per source circuit (5,270 W,
629 Vmp, 8.38 Imp, 773.5 Voc, 8.85
Isc), six or seven source circuits per
inverter, 648 kW array total
ARRAY INSTALLATION, MUSTANG
SOUTH: Fixed ground-mount, Solar
FlexRack racking, 195 azimuth, 25
tilt, tables spaced for 10am2pm
winter solstice solar window
MODULES, MUSTANG NORTH: 7,776
Trina Solar TSM-PD14, 305 W STC,
+3/-0%, 36.6 Vmp, 8.33 Imp, 45.45
Voc, 8.81 Isc
INVERTERS, MUSTANG NORTH:
72 YaskawaSolectria Solar PVI 28TL,
28 kW, 1,000 Vdc maximum input,
C ou r te sy groS ola r (2)

500800 Vdc MPPT range, 3-phase
480 Vac output; inverter outputs
collected in 480 Vac panelboards
and switchboards; collected output
stepped up to 12.47/7.2 kV and con-
nected to an OG&E distribution feeder
ARRAY, MUSTANG NORTH: 18 mod- customersthe project generates project schedule and partner collabora-
ules per source circuit (5,490 W, 658.8 enough electricity to power approxi- tion to deliver this successful project to
Vmp, 8.33 Imp, 818.1 Voc, 8.81 Isc), mately 500 homes. OG&E. The energization of the Mustang
three source circuits per tracker (16.47
The Mustang North array has 144 Solar PV plant represents one of the
kW, 658.8 Vmp, 24.99 Imp, 818.1
rows of self-powered single-axis trackers most significant solar developments in
Voc, 26.43 Isc), six source circuits per
with 54 PV modules per tracker. Each Oklahoma to date and is part of OG&Es
inverter (32.94 kW, 658.8 Vmp, 49.98
Imp, 818.1 Voc, 52.86 Isc), 2,372 kW
tracker has a rotational range of 60 continued commitment to being an
array total degrees. Two central controllers com- affordable, reliable, safe and environ-
municate with all rows and four weather mentally responsible energy provider.
ARRAY INSTALLATION, MUSTANG
NORTH: Tracked array, 144
stations via mesh network, which allows groSolar is proud to be a part of bring-
NEXTracker SPT horizontal axis track- the utility SCADA system to monitor and ing solar to Oklahoma with our partners
ers, 60 tracking rotation range control the trackers. groSolar included at Oklahoma Gas & Electric. Weve built
SYSTEM MONITORING: AlsoEnergy

training for OG&E personnel on this first projects all over the nation, and Oklahoma
DAS systems provide performance OG&E-owned and -operated single-axis stands out as a state with some of the best
monitoring and manage remote moni- tracker PV project. solar resources weve seen. It has enor-
toring and control via an OG&E SCADA The groSolar engineering and con- mous solar generation potential.
system struction teams carefully managed the Jamie Resor, CEO, groSolar
September 12-15 / Las Vegas
Booth #935
QUALITY AND RELIABILITY
YOU CAN BANK ON
SIMPLIFYING SOLAR
www.solectria.com | inverters@solectria.com

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September/October 2016 The Importance of Discounting Future Solar Savings

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