Thanks Matt! Just what I was looking for. I have a friend who does PV commissioning for a major government agency and he has caught numerous major installation errors that posed serious safety concerns. It seems to me that a comprehesive 3rd party inspection of all commercial/utility scale systems should be the norm throughout the industry, not just for governmental systems.
- Andrew On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 2:12 PM, Matt Lafferty <gilliga...@gmail.com> wrote: > Andrew, > > The General/Prime Contractor on the job was SunPower vis a vis > Powerlight. As per standard operating procedures there, the actual > installation was subbed out. I don't recall which subs they used on this > job, but there was more than one. Per their normal routine, one sub installs > the racking, modules, and wiring from the modules to the combiners. This sub > can have any one of several different license classifications. They use an > electrical sub to install the combiners, homeruns, inverters, > interconnection. The electrical sub is responsible for terminations. > > Although I wasn't onsite to inspect the charcoal, I believe there were > multiple shorts, not just the separated coupling in the homerun. I suspect > there was at least one ground-fault in the array prior to whatever happened > at the coupling. If this was the case, then BOTH SUBCONTRACTORS FAILED. They > are both at least partially responsible for what happened there. > > I have seen the racking system that was used on the Bakersfield project. > The vintage used there had SEVERE problems with wire management. Absolute > crap! Ground faults are common with that racking system. I have > personally witnessed a system running with 8 amps of current on the ground > using the same racking system. This was NOT on the Bakersfield > site. Although I wasn't permitted to troubleshoot the problem, I was told > that they had been chasing the ghost for several months. Ever since the > initial installation. I have it from reliable sources that this condition is > common and a known flaw in the design. At that time, their philosophy was > that a ground fault is acceptable as long as there isn't enough current to > trip the inverter offline. Central inverters commonly have up to a 10 amp > GFP, so you can have one or more strings directly shorted and keep running. > > The concept that they kept installing systems with a known flaw like > this is beyond acceptable. SunPower ultimately bears the greatest share of > responsibility here. I do not know whether they have corrected the crappy > wire management in that racking system since then or not. I certainly hope > they have either corrected it or stopped using the system altogether. > > A comprehensive commissioning process would identify these problems and > prevent the system from being placed into service. A visual inspection is > the beginning of any commissioning process. As I said, I have seen these > systems and they ain't pretty. Any schmuck can easily see numerous wires > pulled across sharp-edges of sheet metal at various points throughout the > array. Fail #1. Megger output jumpers... Fail #2. > > The concept that any building department has signed one of these systems > off at all is mind-boggling. Another thing I find interesting... There was > no mention of this condition in the fire investigation report. Only a > recommendation to megger the remaining wires. What's up with that? How is it > that so many of these systems have been installed and passed inspection? How > many have caught fire that we haven't heard about? You know... Just a little > fire. > > I would LOVE to know how much downtime has been logged because of this > dangerous problem. And how much money has been spent troubleshooting and > "fixing" faults caused by this problem. And how many "technicians" have been > shocked during installation or service? One thing I can guarantee you... > Unless you work inside the bowels of SunPower or this information comes out > in a lawsuit somewhere, we will never know. Maybe WikiLeaks will have > something on this someday. But I'm not holding my breath. > > For the record, I'm not a SunPower hater. I do hate crappy workmanship. I > hate the practice of covering up crappy workmanship even more. You see, when > you cover it up, it's just gonna keep happening. At least until somebody > calls you on it. > > $0.02001 > > Solar Janitor > > ------------------------------ > *From:* re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto: > re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *Andrew Truitt > *Sent:* Monday, October 18, 2010 12:04 PM > *To:* RE-wrenches > > *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Target fire > > Thanks William. That is the first place I looked but I didn't see it in > there. But I love all the resources on your website! > > > - Andrew > On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 12:47 PM, William Miller <will...@millersolar.com > > wrote: > >> Andrew: >> >> It may be in the report: >> http://mpandc.com/practices/Safety/safety_data.html >> >> William >> >> >> At 11:30 AM 10/18/2010, you wrote: >> >> Does anyone know who installed the infamous Bakersfield Target job? >> >> >> >> Andrew Truitt >> NABCEP Certified PV Installerâ„¢ (ID# 032407-66) >> Truitt Renewable Energy Consulting >> (202) 486-7507 >> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713 >> >> >> >> "Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion >> to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor >> safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could >> ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!" >> >> ~William McDonough >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >> Version: 8.5.448 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3204 - Release Date: 10/18/10 >> 06:34:00 >> >> *Please note new e-mail address and domain: >> >> *William Miller >> Miller Solar >> Voice :805-438-5600 >> email: will...@millersolar.com >> http://millersolar.com >> License No. C-10-773985 >> ____________________________________ >> >> Andrew Truitt >> NABCEP Certified PV Installerâ„¢ (ID# 032407-66) >> Truitt Renewable Energy Consulting >> (202) 486-7507 >> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713 >> >> "Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion >> to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor >> safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could >> ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!" >> >> ~William McDonough >> >> > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Options & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > -- Andrew Truitt NABCEP Certified PV Installerâ„¢ (ID# 032407-66) Truitt Renewable Energy Consulting (202) 486-7507 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713 "Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!" ~William McDonough
_______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org