NABCEP NEWS

September 2014

Volunteer Opportunities

NABCEP has been funded by NYSERDA to develop a  credential for photovoltaic system inspectors and solar heating system inspectors. We  are in search of subject matter experts to serve on a technical committee for each credential. We are particularly looking for municipal/AHJ system inspectors with knowledge of solar, and others from the solar industry who have experience related to system commissioning and inspection.
We must ensure that all stakeholders are represented in this committee. We need approximately 12-15 volunteers for each committee who represent different geographic regions and practice settings. The committees will first be tasked with developing a Job Task Analysis to define the tasks, knowledge and skills associated with inspecting customer-sited PV and Solar Heating systems. The initial time commitment is attending a two-day meeting to develop the JTA and participate in follow-up e-mail and conference calls to revise and finalize the document.

If you are interested in joining one of the Inspector Credential Technical Committees, please send a resume and letter of interest to Kathryn Casey at: [email protected]

The NABCEP Board of Directors Nominating Committee is seeking individuals interested in serving on the Board of Directors for their consideration for board seats.

The Board is responsible for ensuring that NABCEP offers credentials that are relevant, meaningful, and offer value to practitioners and consumers. Each Board of Director Member elected will serve 3 year terms, and there is no term limit. Board meetings take place every 6-8 weeks via conference call, and once annually in-person.

If you are interested in joining the NABCEP Board of Directors, please send a resume and letter of interest to Richard Lawrence at: [email protected]

NABCEP is proud to announce that Sullivan Solar Power of California, Inc, has become the 4th company to achieve NABCEP Company Accreditation. Sullivan Solar Power is located in San Diego, and serves all of Southern California. Through system sale, installation, and the after-sale process, they have proven their commitment to excellence and quality assurance through our comprehensive application process.

In order to become NABCEP Accredited, companies must participate in a full audit of all policies, procedures, and personnel, as well as undergo three random inspections of completed installations.

Upon notification of being awarded the Accreditation, Daniel Sullivan, President, exclaimed:
"You just made our day, our month, our year! Good news! We are really proud to have achieved this milestone."

Potential Induced Degradation (PID) has become a topic of conversation within the PV industry. PID is caused by leakage currents from the solar cells onto the glass and the module frame. Over time, it is possible for these leaks to cause significant degradation of the power output of the modules. The modules are carrying very high DC voltages while the module frame will have no voltage flowing through it (hopefully!). This difference in voltage causes electrons to pop loose from the solar cells, move through the electrical fields around the modules and then discharge through the module frame.

 

There are a few factors that seem to accelerate PID effects: cell configuration and composition, PV module construction, PV system installation, and time. Anti-glare coatings, humidity and high string voltage are also factors, but the good news is that PID is now better understood and solutions are available to test and prevent it. To prevent PID, the cells must not have a negative voltage relative to their surroundings and grounding the array on the negative pole resolves this problem. Transformer based inverters normally do not exhibit PID since the negative conductor of the array is grounding inside the inverter as part of PV array ground fault detection. Since transformerless inverters use ungrounded PV arrays, this inverter topology could be more susceptible to PID.