Design & Installation
Design & Installation
The utility-scale PV market has significantly transformed over the last 5 years. Whereas 1 MW–5 MW ground-mounted projects were considered large a few years ago, fixed-tilt and tracking systems are now deployed in projects exceeding 100 MW. To...
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Design & Installation
Regardless of when your local AHJ officially adopts the 2014 edition of the National Electrical Code, PV system designers and installers need to stay up to date with the most recent Code requirements, since these invariably influence product...
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Design & Installation
The current buzz surrounding solar energy storage has been gradually building for the last two years. How the storage market will grow and evolve, and how quickly, is not yet clear. However, one thing is certain—the solar industry is entering a...
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Design & Installation
Here, I present a simple source-circuit wiring technique for portrait-oriented PV arrays that can turn the liability associated with excess module lead length into a cost-savings opportunity.
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Design & Installation
Commissioning PV systems in winter months presents many challenges to gathering useful and valid data.
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Design & Installation
When SEIA and SEPA first collaborated to present a solar industry conference in 2004, the installed annual US grid-tied PV capacity was 58 MW. By comparison, it is estimated that more than 4.4 GW of new PV capacity will be connected to the US...
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Design & Installation
In large commercial and utility-scale PV systems, hundreds or thousands of PV modules are connected in series and parallel. The resulting dc voltages may approach 1,000 V and current levels may exceed 1 kA. In this article, we examine methods to...
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Design & Installation
Not all commercial rooftops are well suited to host a PV array. This is part of what makes elevated solar support structures—like PV carports, canopies and shade structures—an attractive option for system integrators and potential customers alike....
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Design & Installation
Once raceway types have been specified for a PV project, careful design and installation ensures a safe and Code-compliant raceway system that is efficient and long-lasting. Designers need to be highly aware of detailed field conditions—or need to...
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Design & Installation
We investigate the relationship between module binning, or grouping modules based on specified power or current tolerances, and its impact on energy yields.
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Design & Installation
PV systems, like other electrical power systems, use electrical conductors to route power from sources to loads. The 2011 NEC lists about 20 different types of raceways that are suitable for protecting these conductors based on the application. We...
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Design & Installation
Installing PV arrays on tile roofs is more time consuming, complicated and expensive than installing on asphalt shingle roofs. In this article, we examine the most common tile roof systems that installers are likely to encounter and address three...
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Design & Installation
In the decade that has elapsed since Enphase introduced its first-generation microinverter system, the module-level power electronics landscape has slowly been moving toward a higher level of not only product integration but also MLPE-related...
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Design & Installation
All the focus and pressure to realize high yields and low costs on an individual project often blinds companies to the benefits of a fast execution and in some cases can really slow things down. While some of the suggestions presented in this...
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Design & Installation
When done correctly, PV system-commissioning activities ensure customer satisfaction, project safety and longevity, while adding very little in terms of time and cost. Commissioning agents can prove that a system is working as promised, set...
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