Solar PV Safety with Lawrence Shaw, Solar Engineer

Please subscribe to the channel, give us a thumbs up and share with your friends and colleagues. There are over two million solar projects in the United States now (2020) and we're adding about 15 gigawatts every year. This means that many millions of solar panels, inverters, power electronics and balance of system equipment including wiring, connectors, combiner boxes and switch gear are being installed each year. Solar PV is now mature technology and generally very safe for both residential, commercial and utility scale installations. But there is a growing number of documented mishaps including arrays catching fire. Fire safety and first responder safety are primary concerns for solar installations because they are outdoors, mounted on the roof or ground of many residential and commercial buildings. Lawrence Shaw, Chief Solar Engineer with Higher Power has reviewed U.S. Fire Administration records concluding that there have been 154 solar related fires in the US to date. Sixty percent of these occurred on residential homes and 40 percent on commercial or industrial facilities. There are many points of potential failure in a solar array and there's a growing drum beat that we need to take solar safety more seriously. The NFPA is the governing body responsible for the National Electric Code which in turn sets the standards for solar PV design, engineering, construction, operations and maintenance, and monitoring. The NEC 2017 included a safety measure known as ‘rapid shutdown’, which is designed to make solar rays safer for first responders. The goal of rapid shut-down is for solar systems to de-energize in a matter of seconds, not minutes, when there is a power outage or other forced shut down of the array. Most of the time, solar arrays do shut down as desired, but sometimes they don't. Learn all about solar PV safety from an expert who makes his living helping solar project owners create safer and more robust solar installations. ---- Solar Works for Illinois (www.CESnrg.com/podcast) is the podcast from Continental Energy Solutions produced and hosted by Tim Montague, Solar Expert, NABCEP PV Technical Sales Professional. Continental is the largest commercial & industrial solar installer in Illinois with over 150 projects and 60 MW of rooftop, ground mount and utility scale solar installations. The Clean Power Hour is co-hosted by Tim Montague, Solar Expert (www.cesnrg.com) and John Weaver, Commercial Solar Guy (www.commercialsolarguy.com). Please subscribe to the channel, give us a thumbs up and share with your friends and colleagues. Contact Tim Montague at 217.722.0429 m | [email protected] to suggest guests, topics, and for speaking invitations. Solar Works for Illinois (www.CESnrg.com/podcast) is the podcast from Continental Energy Solutions produced by Tim Montague, Solar Executive, NABCEP PV Technical Sales Professional. Continental is the largest commercial & industrial solar installer in Illinois with over 150 projects and 60 MW of rooftop, ground mount and utility scale solar installations across the Midwest. Solar Works for Illinois is the podcast for facility owners, manufacturers, solar pros, solar project owners, solar developers, policy experts, and industry analysts. We discuss and help you understand how solar creates value, industry and market trends across the Midwest, the US and the World. We discuss rooftop solar, how solar works for your facility, legislation and incentives like FEJA (Future Energy Jobs Act), Path to 100, Clean Energy Jobs Act, SRECs, community solar, and utility scale solar. Solar Works for Illinois is the place where solar project owners, solar developers, policy experts, and industry analysts discuss and help you understand the Illinois solar market in the context of the US and Midwest solar markets. We discuss rooftop solar, how solar works for your facility, legislation and incentives like FEJA (Future Energy Jobs Act), Path to 100, Clean Energy Jobs Act, SRECs, community solar, and utility scale solar. Solar works for Illinois is produced by Tim Montague, Solar Expert at Continental Electrical. Please like, comment and subscribe to our channel. Thank you for watching! Please post comments and suggestion for future shows on the channel or contact Tim Montague at 217.722.0429 m | [email protected]