This podcast is a reading from Chapter 6 of PV and the NEC 3rd Edition based on the 2023 NEC by Sean White and Bill Brooks. You can buy the book on Amazon at: https://a.co/d/amFqNko   Bonding and Grounding is something that causes a lot of arguments and this book will get to the bottom of it.    Topics: 690 Part V Bonding and Grounding 690.41 PV System DC Circuit Grounding and Protection   Grounding Electrode Grounding Electrode Conductor (GEC) Equipment Grounding Conductor (EGC) Ground Grounded Conductor Solidly Grounded Functionally Grounded Ground Fault Ground Fault Detector-Interrupter (GFDI) Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI)   690.42 Point of PV System DC Circuit Grounding Connection 690.43 Equipment Grounding and Bonding   UL 2703 UL 3703   250.97 Bonding for Over 250V to Ground Table 250.122 EGC Based on OCPD 690.45 Size of Equipment Grounding Conductors 690.47 Grounding Electrode System   Additional Electrodes vs. Auxiliary Electrodes   To learn more and get all kinds of free information, go to www.solarSEAN.com

Sean White featured on the Clean Power Hour podcast with Tim Montague's co-host John Weaver on September 28, 2023. We are reposting this podcast, which you can also listen to on Tim Montague's awesome Clean Power Hour podcast, which you can find at www.cleanpowerhour.com Sean White was at the University of Colorado in Denver during this podcast. We had a great time chatting to one another and discussing: 1. The events at the just concluded 2023 RE+ Convection 2. White House launches clean energy youth workforce program amid labor shortage concerns 3. We talk about the Erthos technology and what it means to the clean energy revolution 4. Companies that were present at the RE+ and the new upcoming technology Check out Tim Montague on: Website: www.cleanpowerhour.com Youtube: www.youtube.com/@cleanpowerhour123 Twitter: www.twitter.com/tgmontague LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/company/clean-power-hour?trk=public_post_follow-view-profile Email: [email protected] Tim Montague's co-host is: John Fitzgerald Weaver Known online as “The Commercial Solar Guy,” Solar professional and project developer. John Fitzgerald Weaver works as the General Manager of CSG Developers LLC and a technical writer for pv magazine USA, where he covers solar industry data, equipment and manufacturers, trends, regulations and much more! Reach John Fitzgerald Weaver here! LinkedIn Account: www.linkedin.com/in/johnfitzgeraldweaver/ Company Website: www.commercialsolarguy.com/ RSS Feed: www.commercialsolarguy.com/news/ For more information on solar, storage and everything else, go to www.solarSEAN.com

If you were walking around RE+ in Vegas, you may have noticed a track and all of these remote control race cars and wondered what that was about. That was the Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix Pro (H2GP Pro)!   Here is what we talked about:   Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix Pro = H2GP Pro STEM kits STEAM Science Technology Engineering Art Math RE+ Las Vegas Remote Control Race Cars Hydrogen Element Hydrogen Fires Lead Acid Batteries making Hydrogen Fuel Cells vs. Internal Combustion Engines with Hydrogen Toyota Hydrogen Combustion Engine JTB Hydrogen Engine Fuel Cells Need Clean Air Combustion of Hydrogen Makes Water Stoichiometry 2 H2 + O2 = H2O Toyota Murai Electrolysis is same Stoichiometry CPAP Machine is Electrolyzer making Oxygen and Getting Rid of Hydrogen Hydrogen Colors Green Hydrogen = Electrolysis (electricity and water) Brown Hydrogen Grey Hydrogen = Natural Gas Derived = 95% of H2 in the World Steam Reformation = Preexisting Hydrocarbons to make Hydrogen, Such as Municipal Waste Big Bang and Hydrogen Atoms Landfill Gas to Make Hydrogen Carbon Capture Turquoise Hydrogen = Pyrolyses Blue Hydrogen = SMR Steam Methane Reformation and Carbon Capture World Economy Forum Round Trip Efficiency of Hydrogen with Green Hydrogen 35% Hydrogen is Lighter than Lithium-Ion Hydrogen Electric Airplane Rocket Equation World’s Record for Lithium-Ion Battery Electric Trucking Autonomous Driving Cheating with race cars design The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain Bulgaria Team Underdog Los Angeles Team Wins Telemetry Systems Hacking other Team’s Telemetry Systems Anti Hacking Software Danika Patrick and NASCAR Formula E with Lithium-Ion vs. Fuel Cells Symbio from France Fuel Cells Hydrogen is the Future of Racing Sustainable Diesel = Diesel Made From Corn F1 to Hydrogen Explosions with Storing any Energy Recycling Critical Mass Bike Riders Car Explosion One Less Car Horizon Educational Global Headquarters in Czech Republic H2GP Foundation 501c3 Grants Sponsorship STEM Kits with Electrolyzer and Fuel Cell Remote Control Wind Solar Ethanol Solar Hydrogen Science Kits Pinewood Derby Rubber Band Energy Storage Free Hydrogen Curriculum Wind, Solar, Ethanol Science Kits Flinstone power   You can find them at: www.horizoneducational.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/horizoneducational/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/HorizonEducational/ LinkedIn: cz.linkedin.com/in/max-accordino Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCYHcXEZdZp8Zw2kmr3_I2Fw   To find out more and educate yourself, go to www.solarSEAN.com or www.HeatSpring.com/sean

Learn about bidirectional EV charging/discharging with former White House and EPA policy advisor Clinton Administration, former County Supervisor in Virginia, Faculty at University of Virginia 23 years, Commerce, Architecture, Engineering who has a Philosophy degree and is an entrepreneur who started multiple companies. David Slutzky started Fermata Energy in 2010.   Here are some of the topics we covered: V2G Vehicle to Grid V1G smart charging V2X Vehicle to Everything V2B Vehicle to Building  V2L Vehicle to Load Behind the meter Load management Power quality VARs CAISO Independent System Operator Grid vs. Utility is different ISO is grid made up of different utilities VPP Duke and Ford F-150 Lightning TEPCO Fukushima brought on V2X CHAdeMO protocol Nissan Leaf bidirectional in 2013 Offboard DC charger Software platform Vehicle battery comes free with leather seats and air conditioning EV battery warranty with V2X AI software Data science Grid facing market opportunities Vehicle to grid services provider Defining 100% state of charge (SOC) 2000 Ford Ranger EV Setting parameters of SOC to protect battery LFP NCA NMC 4.2 volts per cell (VPC) at full charge Child labor in the Congo and cobalt Climate Early adopters Storage in EVs dwarfs stationary grid storage Beacon power flywheels University of Virginia vs. Virginia Tech UL testing of bidirectional EV chargers UL 1741 SB UL 1741 SA UL 1741 Siemens CCS North American Charging Standard = Tesla <5A continuous = 10,000kWh/yr at 240V Curtailing over $1B/yr of solar and wind in California Discharge behind the meter to reduce demand charges $200-$300 per month with 15kW EV to grid with Leaf Utility demand response programs National Grid summer demand response program Bidirectional Nissan Leaf makes in 57 hours in a summer for $4500 in the evenings (after work) Onboard and offboard inverter/chargers EV1 Rav 4 EV Chevy S-10 EV Avcon GBT charging standard in China Chao G charging is CHAdeMO in China VW Dieselgate Self certify Electrify America Chademo 3.0 Father of EVs in Japan 99.3% uptime of EV chargers in Japan Much worse uptime in US SGIP (Self Generation Incentive Program) subsidies in California should apply to EV to grid Over 90% of EV charging happens at home Interconnection agreement of inverter is probably going to be a stationary inverter and not a roaming onboard inverter Weight of onboard inverter Using big inverter that spins wheels to feed the grid Raising capital and talking to oil companies Panasonic Chevron Oil companies future is renewables and are important sources of capital Yogaville Buckingham County Dominion Pipeline   David Slutzky  https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-slutzky-2a77875 Fermata Energy  https://fermataenergy.com/   To learn more, go to www.solarSEAN.com or www.HeatSpring.com/sean

This podcast is full of solar history, so we give a shout out to the solar historians 100 and 1000 years from now!! Hey people who have not been born yet! Check us out!!   Terence and Johnny have been doing solar PV since the 1980s and have known each other since the early days.   Terence tells the story how he was on a small airplane in the South Pacific in the 80s wearing a solar shirt and Ward Bower, the inventor of the grid-tied inverter, tapped him on the shoulder, which started his solar career full steam. Before that he was a marine biologist trying to figure out how to get electricity on a 12 acre island, so he could study oysters. The moral of this story is to always wear a solar T-shirt.   Johnny Weiss is famous for starting Solar Energy International (SEI) in 1991 and has been working with PV modules since the mid 1980s.   The story of how we decided to do this podcast goes... Johnny invited me to see the SEI campus a few weeks ago and I asked him to be on the podcast. I told him how Terence Parker was going to be on it, and he had great things to say about Terence, so we decided to make Johnny the surprise guest. Johnny was very helpful at helping me interview Terence, so he is probably going to help me interview more historical figures.   Here are some of the names we dropped and things we talked about:   Arco Solar MREA SEI Bob Ramlow Solis Solar Bridge Ken Olsen Home Power Richard Perez Borneo Sri Lanka Brazil World Bank Sandia Unisolar Out of the jungle Ward Bower Walked the PCH Diving for oysters Remote work Set Long Beach Convention Center on fire (need a follow up podcast on this one) Vestas Offshore wind Small wind Mick Sagrillo Bob-O Schultze   LinkedIn pages   Terence Parker (not to be confused with Trey Parker of South Park) https://www.linkedin.com/in/terence-parker-2844a15/   Johnny Weiss (same last name as mine, but in a different language): https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnny-weiss-b025106/   To find out more, go to www.SolarSEAN.com and get NABCEP certified!

Matthew Kappers is the CEO of The Coretec Group. The Coretec Group is known for their expertise in silicon nanoparticles to push the boundaries of silicon engineering and battery development. They are using their main expertise to develop an anode with a high concentration of silicon that will significantly boost the performance of lithium-ion batteries. In this podcast we are going to talk about anodes and how these anodes could potentially be used with other types of batteries and other types of electrolytes. Let us hear from Matthew Kappers on how he and his team work with anodes, which is what makes their company so special!    Besides being an informative discussion, it was also a good conversation, which you can now join!   Here is a list of the topics we cover: Coretec Group's Endurion battery technology Silicon nanoparticles Anodes Solid Electrolyte Interface (SEI) layer Increasing lithium ion battery capacity by 100% with 20% silicon Most EV batteries have no silicon 100% silicon anode would increase capacity 10x Drop in solution Partner with battery manufacturer Patents Silicon vs. silicone Specific energy is per weight Energy density is energy per volume Most people say energy density when they mean specific energy Lithium anode battery (not rechargeable) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) cobalt mining Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cathodes Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) cathodes Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA) cathodes CRTG stock ticker Slurry technology Driving an EV across the country with one charge Rocket equation for Cannonball Run Earth by weight there is more iron than anything else Battery recycling 2nd life batteries Vehicle to grid (V2G) EV less expensive per kWh than home battery Lead toxicity Lithium nontoxic Visit The Coretec Group here: Website: www.thecoretecgroup.com Youtube: www.youtube.com/@thecoretecgroup7034 Twitter: www.twitter.com/CoretecGroupInc LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-coretec-group-inc Find out more, educate yourself, go to www.solarSEAN.com   Take Sean's Energy Storage Boot Camp and be in the know!

Learn how solar is manufactured right here in the USA with a long time CEO of a US (Minnesota) and Canada (Ontario) solar manufacturer. Heliene Solar started up in 2010 and is still growing, especially with the Inflation Reduction Act climate. In this podcast Martin Pochtaruk takes us down an assembly line so you can learn from start to finish how a modern solar module is made.   Here are some of the terms we cover:   Encapsulant An encapsulated mosquito in a solar cell (a Jurassic Park event) Electroluminescent Microcracks Busbars Lamination Half-cells Junction boxes Potting Multi-arm robot Silicon cement High voltage testing (1500V) Flash testing Current voltage curve 1.5AM STC Factory temperature PID (Potential Induced Degradation) PERC (Passive Emitter Rear Contact) TOPCon = 3 processes on top of a PERC cell N-type P-type Heterojunction Polysilicon Ingot Wafer Cell China Ontario Canada Feed-in-tariff (FIT) Sarnia Ontario Sault Ste Marie Solar modules are like windows   Check out: www.heliene.com   To learn more about how solar is manufactured, and everything else about solar and storage, go to www.solarSEAN.com

In this podcast we have Bill Brooks talking energy storage system (ESS) Codes, with emphasis on the National Electrical Code (NEC). Be sure to get Sean and Bill’s latest book, which is the 3rd edition of PV and the NEC, based on the 2023 NEC. To find where to get different versions of the NEC including the 2023 NEC for free check out the NEC tab at solarSEAN.com.  Disclaimer: This podcast was recorded in 2021. Keywords NEC Article 706 for Energy Storage Systems, UL 9540, Article 480, nominal voltage, cycling batteries, UL 1973, residential code, UL 1989, AHJ, inspector advice, communications between battery and inverter, flywheels, flow batteries, UPS, Australia and Hawaii, NexTracker, inverter output circuit, nameplate on ESS, apparent power, fault currents limited, maximum output current definition, LG chem battery, power converter, OSHA NRTL, ETL, Intertech, UL, SMA, UL standards writing entity vs. UL testing entity, 2021 International Residential Code, Tesla Powerwall, storage inverter, Ginlong, 9540A, liquid cooled vs. air cooled, Enphase Barbecue, Enphase in boiled water, ESS disconnecting means, readily accessible, unbalanced interconnections, single-phase inverters on 3-phase services, voltage rise, 705.12 Load-Side Connections, 710 Stand Alone Systems, plaque or directory, wire sizing, ampacity, overcurrent protection device, rounding up wire size to common overcurrent protection device size, energy storage is a source and a load, using continuous current instead of surge current, inverter input circuit current, diversion loads, C40 charge controllers without maximum power point tracking and diversion loads, energy storage as a diversion load, hot water loads, pulse with modulation (PWM), 150% correction factors for diversion loads, dc-to-dc converters, required ampacity for continuous current vs. continuous current, commercial and industrial (C&I). Links: Bill Brooks, P.E.: www.brooksolar.com www.solarSEAN.com www.HeatSpring.com/SEAN 

David Bliss is the CEO/Founder of Faraday Microgrids. Besides being a renewable energy CEO, David Bliss also has a medical degree and is a qualified General Surgeon and Licensed California Pediatric Surgeon. There are many people in the renewable industry with a wide variety of skills! Faraday Microgrids is a licensed general contracting company. Some of their accomplishments pertain to pioneering systems for hospitals and healthcare institutions. Faraday Microgrids constructed the first renewable energy microgrid to interconnect to a vitally important power branch of a California hospital at the Kaiser Permanente site in Richmond. Faraday Microgrids is wide open to develop and design projects. They focus on essential sectors including healthcare, industrial, manufacturing, and community safety. You may also contact David Bliss and his team by checking here! Faraday Microgrids’ Website: www.faradaymicrogrids.com Faraday Microgrids’ Office: 949-305-7820 To find out more and educate yourself, go to www.solarSEAN.com

There are so many reasons to go solar and so many people with different opinions of why. Rather than arguing about why everyone needs to go solar, let's get together, as humans and install more solar and storage! Forgetting about our differences and working together on this project, is what will have the greatest effect. Instead of letting politics divide us, let's come together and   Here are some of the reasons that people go solar:   Saving money Climate change Green jobs Oil wars Giving our money to dictators Energy independence Neat technology Backup power Living off grid Disconnecting from utilities Prepping for the worst Going green Clean air Good health   Personally, I like going solar for all of these reasons, but just because someone else is politically against some of these things, does not mean that we should alienate them from this great family of an industry!   This podcast is being released during my RE+ NEC workshop with Bill Brooks. I have taught this workshop at every RE+/SPI since 2012! Celebrate! Good times!   To learn more about solar and storage and to get NABCEP certified, go to www.solarSEAN.com

Sean White was the guest on the Clean Power Hour podcast at the American Solar Energy Society in Boulder Colorado on August 10, 2023. We are reposting this podcasst, which you can also listen to on Tim Montegue's awesome Clean Power Hour podcast, which you can find at www.cleanpowerhour.com   The main topic we discussed was, "Can renewables replace fossil fuels".   Tim Montegue's co-host is:   John Fitzgerald Weaver Known online as “The Commercial Solar Guy,” Solar professional and project developer. John Fitzgerald Weaver works as the General Manager of CSG Developers LLC and a technical writer for pv magazine USA, where he covers solar industry data, equipment and manufacturers, trends, regulations and much more!   Reach John Fitzgerald Weaver here! LinkedIn Account: www.linkedin.com/in/johnfitzgeraldweaver/ Company Website: www.commercialsolarguy.com/ RSS Feed: www.commercialsolarguy.com/news/   Clean Power Show Notes (directly pasted from the Clean Power Hour): Special guest Sean White, master PV trainer and host of Sean White's Solar and Energy Storage Podcast is joining us LIVE from Boulder Colorado at the ASES Conference (American Solar Energy Society). Please take our listener survey.   Stay up to date with the latest solar, wind, and energy storage news and analysis. Join co-hosts Tim Montague, solar & storage expert, and John Weaver, PV Magazine journalist, as they reflect on the latest tools, technologies, and trends driving the energy transition forward. With a strong commitment to decarbonizing the economy and building a safer, healthier future for humanity, this show is a must-watch for any energy professional looking to stay ahead of the game. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, rate and review us on Apple or Spotify, and join us live every Thursday at 12 noon EST / 9 AM Pacific. Contact us at [email protected] or visit www.CleanPowerHour.com to learn more.   Support the show Connect with Tim Clean Power Hour Clean Power Hour on YouTube Tim on Twitter Tim on LinkedIn   Email [email protected]   Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts   The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]   Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/   The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com   The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Please subscribe on your favorite audio platform and on Youtube: bit.ly/cph-sub | www.CleanPowerHour.com | contact us by email: [email protected] | Speeding the energy transition!   For more information on solar, storage and everything else, go to www.solarSEAN.com

Geoff Ferrell is the Senior Vice President of VPP and C&I Projects Business at Sonnen Inc. He also worked as a Chief Technology Officer in Mandalay Homes at Arizona.   As the former Chief Technology Officer of Mandalay Homes, Geoff Ferrell was a leader in the development of technology in the construction industry and a specialist in building science.   In 2017, Sonnen started working with Soleil Lofts, a multi-family community in Herriman, Utah, south of Salt Lake City, that has 600 units and is totally powered by electricity. It is a part of a project of Rocky Mountain Power. This podcast was recorded in Jamestown Colorado   You can also reach Geoff Ferrell on his social accounts! Sonnen website: www.sonnenusa.com Threads: www.threads.net/@geoffferrell LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-ferrell-733466a8/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/ferrell_geoff?lang=en   Greg Smith on Sean's podcast in 2020 (when Greg was with Sonnen): Part 1: podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/greg-smith-of-sonnen-battery-and-formerly-of-sma-part-1/id1441958371?i=1000474026142   Part 2: podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/greg-smith-of-sonnen-battery-part-2/id1441958371?i=1000474817340   Part 3: podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/greg-smith-of-sonnen-battery-part-3/id1441958371?i=1000477208295   Part 4: podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/greg-smith-of-sonnen-battery-part-4-of-4/id1441958371?i=1000486509610     To find out more and educate yourself, go to www.solarSEAN.com

In this podcast we have Bill Brooks talking energy storage system (ESS) Codes, including the NEC, IFC, IBC, IRC, IEC, but mostly the NEC. Be sure to get Sean and Bill’s latest book, which is the 3rd edition of PV and the NEC, based on the 2023 NEC. To find where to get different versions of the NEC including the 2023 NEC for free check out the NEC tab at solarSEAN.com.  Disclaimer: This podcast was recorded in 2021. Keywords/topics covered: Self-consumption, EVs, frequency regulation, voltage regulation, energy storage systems, ac-coupled, dc-coupled, SolarEdge, Generac, Powerwall, Enphase, ac-modules, Outback Power, multimode inverter, Sunny Island, Sunny Boy, Article 702, 705, 710, isolation device vs. transfer switch, microgrid mode, interactive inverters, reverse dc-coupled, 400V bus voltage, dc converters, 690.71, Article 480, electric supply and distribution network, NEC Handbook Commentary, UL9540, UL 1973, LG Chem, nominal voltages, lead-acid 2V, alkali, lithium iron phosphate 3.2V, cobalt type of lithium-ion 3.6V, LiFePo4, nickel, charging ranges, batteries are not constant voltage, dc-converters required, storage battery, telecoms industry battery systems not regulated by NEC, NEC 90.2, equalization, sulfation, Trojan L16, lead-acid battery IRC UL 9540 requirements, no UL 9540 listed lead-acid batteries and IRC requires UL 9540 for residential (in dwellings), off-gassing, stratification, emergency disconnects, Hawaii systems, energy storage system labeling, rules for protection of battery terminals for wiring, Article 110, spaces between batteries on NABCEP PVIP exam, ground fault protection. Links: Bill Brooks, P.E.: www.brooksolar.com www.solarSEAN.com www.HeatSpring.com/SEAN 

Buy this book here: https://www.amazon.com/PV-NEC-Sean-White/dp/100318099X   This long podcast is a reading of chapter 5 of the book, which covers NEC Article 690 Part IV of the 2023 NEC.   Every 3 years when the NEC comes out, it is a tradition for me to read and post a poetry reading of Article 690 Photovoltaic Systems. I have already posted parts I through III on this podcast, which you can go back and listen to.   Sean White and Bill Brooks will be presenting this material at RE+ in Vegas in September and at Intersolar in San Diego in January, so be sure to check out their live workshops in person. The 2023 NEC material will be posted on HeatSpring soon, as it is in production now, so keep an eye out!   The NEC can be dry, and we do our best to make it exciting!!   Don't get shocked, unless you are shocked about how we present ourselves!!

Rod Matthews specializes in commercial and industrial (C&I) scale micro-grids and we get into the details of what a microgrid is and how they can benefit customers. Some of the topics we cover include: Microgrid definitions (NREL and NEC, which are different). Minigrid definition (never connected to the grid) Time-of-Use (TOU) Rates up to $0.74/kWh (or 1 Euro per kWh in Germany) NABCEP PV Technical Sales (PVTS) Lithium Ferrous Phosphate, aka LFP, Lithium Iron Phosphate Dendrites with lithium-metal batteries Silicon anodes Virtual Power Plant (VPP) design Distributed Power Energy Resource Management System Service Artificial Intelligence and Microgrids Internet of Things (IOT) sensors Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contracts Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Capital Expenditures (CapEx) Grid controller systems Microgrid Equipment Demand Charges vs. Energy Charges Expensive electricity is good for the industry Living without electricity Intersolar in San Diego in January RE+ in Vegas in September The renewable energy family at the conferences Sailor of the year Doing good for the planet while making money Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA) Check out Rod's Brevian Energy website: www.brevianenergy.com To learn more about solar, storage and the solution to all of your and everyone else's troubles, go to www.solarSEAN.com or www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

There are many ways to define the largest BESS and since the industry is growing so excitingly fast, it is difficult to explain exactly which is the largest.   We are going to talk about 7 big ones here:   1. Vistra: Moss Landing California US 2021 400MW/1600MWh 2. Crimson Storage: Blythe California US 2022 350MW/1400MWh 3. Manatee: Florida US 2021 (largest with PV) 409MW/900MWh 4. Victorian Big Battery: NSW Australia 2021 300MW/450MWh 5. McCoy Solar / BESS: Blythe California US 2021 230MW/920MWh 6. Elkhorn Battery: Moss Landing California US 2022 182.5MW/730MWh   Number 7 on this list is not the 7th largest battery today, but gets mentioned because it was once the largest in the world, first to reach 100MW way back in 2017 and was made because of a crazy social media bet.   If you are listening to this podcast in 10 years, it will be funny to compare these largest systems to the new largest BESSs in the world. What will they be? 100GWhs? Crazy to imagine this kind of growth!!   For more knowledge about energy storage systems, go to www.solarSEAN.com and take some energy storage classes!!

Sean is recording this podcast from Australia where he is about to teach a utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) course for CPD International. This is some of the material that will be included in the course.   In this podcast, we will go over different battery chemistries, focusing on the three main types of lithium-ion batteries used these days, which include:   1. Lithium Iron Phosphate (aka LFP or LiFePo or LiFePo4) 2. Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (aka NMC or NCM) 3. Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (aka NCA)   We will talk about the availability of these elements on Earth, the toxicity of them, we will compare and contrast to lead-acid and nickel iron batteries and we will take a dive into the controversial Cobalt, which is said to have a supply chain where child labor is often used in the Congo. Australia does lithium and cobalt mining, which is part of the solution, however the use of cobalt free lithium-ion batteries, which means LFP seems to be the solution, however the batteries with cobalt do have a higher specific energy (not to be confused with energy density).   Specific energy = energy per weight (most important for EVs) Energy density = energy per volume   For more go to www.solarSEAN.com or take an energy storage class at www.heatspring.com/sean   Thanks for listening!!

Jeffrey Max is the CEO of Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. otherwise known on the stock market ticker as ASTI. Jeff is a turnaround CEO and we're going to find out what that means, Serial tech entrepreneur and investor. In over 30 years he has founded, built and incubated different global companies with multiple exits in financial services, payments, mobile commerce, adtech and aerospace. Jeff is driving the company's global positioning as a leader in flexible thin-film solar technologies. In addition to several Board positions, Jeff advises and mentors a select group of portfolio companies and founding executives in aerospace, biomed and adtech. Jeff Max has been the Chief Executive Officer of Ascent Solar Technologies since October. 

"Microgrid" is a term that is thrown around a lot and a lot of people using this term are not using it as it is defined in the NEC. The 2023 NEC has a few new microgrid terms. Additionally the 2023 NEC has renamed AC Coupling and DC Coupling  to be AC Interconnected and DC Interconnected.   Have fun and listen and by the way, go to www.solarSEAN.com and become certifiably NABCEPed!

Herve Billiet is an electro-mechanical engineer who co-designed the first Belgian solar car way back when he was 21 years old. Soon after, he was invited by MIT in Boston to advance its sustainable transportation initiatives.   He went on to design his first residential solar PV system in 2009 using the 2008 National Electrical Code. Herve is from Europe but he knows the National Electrical Code he's not an expert over there designing solar systems in Europe.   And another thing is he worked for a few consulting firms, Accenture among them, and the US Department of Energy as a Strategy Consultant working on some of the largest renewable energy projects in the world. I bet that's getting bigger every day.   He's a business partner with Joe Marhamati whom he met at the Department of Energy’s Headquarters to establish Ipsun Solar. Herve and Joe grew Ipsun Solar from a small local installer to a prominent installer in the Northern Virginia Washington DC area doing both residential and commercial solar and advocacy for solar. Herve and Joe were seen roaming the NABCEP conference. Cool dudes! While they were running a solar business Herve saw the need for better software and co-founded Ipsun Sunvoy and we're going to get into what they do but they make tools and things coordinating different types of software and communications together. It’s awesome!   He’s a proud father of three boys, a CEO and he is fighting climate change.

At the COP 27 conference there was a lot of talk about other issues besides climate change, which I thought was interesting. Here were my notes:   I find it interesting at COP27 that there are a lot of other issues that are not directly about solving the CO2 crisis. Human rights, sexual rights, indigenous rights and economic injustice are all very important and all can be indirectly linked to climate change problems, but we need to get the jerks that are against justice on the side of reducing CO2 growth fast in order to move forward fast.   There are many jerks, especially in Florida (that’s a joke), that see human rights as something called “woke” and then when you combine it with CO2 problems, they are automatically against both at once. We need to fix the emergency, make the race to lower the CO2 rate an economic issue that even greedy selfish people can stand behind. Greedy selfish people can stand behind energy security, energy independence, ramping up the cheapest form of energy production, factories in America, good paying jobs, making it a made locally issue. We are not going to get there without the greedy selfish people on our side. We must get along!  We are at a time when doing the right thing is also doing the greedy thing, since renewable energy is the future and will make the next wave of millionaires and billionaires.   This podcast was originally written at the UN COP27 conference in Egypt in November 2022 and then tied up back at home.   To learn about the technical aspects of solar go to www.solarSEAN.com and become certifiably NABCEP.

In this podcast Bill gets down to the basics talking about PV IV curves, Short Circuit Current (Isc), Maximum Power Current (Imp), Open Circuit Voltage (Voc), Maximum Power Voltage (Vmp), Maximum Power Point (MPP), Light Emitting Diodes (LED) in reverse is a solar cell or aka photo diode and if you put power into a solar cell it makes invisible light (infrared).   To learn more go to www.solarSEAN.com and get NABCEP certified while you are at it!

We take something that can be boring and run it through the Sean White "boring-to-exciting converter" and out comes something sounding fun!   In this podcast we go over different ways of disconnecting solar circuits.   To learn more, go to www.solarSEAN.com or www.HeatSpring.com/sean   Sean White teaches in-person and on-demand online solar and storage courses everywhere. He is currently writing a book on the 2023 NEC with Bill Brooks.

This podcast was recorded at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt on November 16 2022.    COP stands for something boring, Conference of the Parties, which means that countries and other organizations are the parties. Sometimes I look at what our countries are doing and it is like we are having a big fossil fuel party! It is literally powering parties like Burning Man with flames of fuel! Anyway, this is the 27th year of COP, so it is called COP 27 and the more famous one was in Paris, when they made the Paris Accord or Paris Agreement, back when we had a very famous and likable Kenyan President at COP 21. This is where the US, China and all of the other big CO2 emitters made an agreement to do things to limit temperature rises to 1.5C over preindustrial levels. Being an American, I do not like the 1.5C number, since we use F for Fahrenheit and a change of 1C is the same as a change of 1.8F, so 1.5C x 1.8 = 2.7F. Anyone that uses F for the temperature of their house or the beach should not use C only when they are talking about climate temperatures, unless they are trying to downplay the emergency. Not since the rock that took out the dinosaurs (except for the birds, which are dinosaurs) has the climate changed so fast. Humans are extremely smart and can tell the temperature of the earth throughout the ages and the CO2 in the atmosphere. There have always been slow gradual changes, but nothing like this without an asteroid. We humans are so smart, that we can also fix this emergency very fast.   The big topic in the news this year is about having the rich countries that have contributed the most to CO2 in the atmosphere to help pay for the other countries that are too poor to do much about it. They have high interest rates, to the point where it is like financing things on a high interest credit card, which is financially impossible to make and investment world form.   The problem I see is that in the biggest polluting country of them all, my country, the USA, we have something called politics and there are enough people against paying for our original sin (we are in a biblical place here), that it is not going to happen on a big scale, no matter how bad the US President wants it.   So what is going to make this happen?   Here is my solution… I see that humans and other organisms can grow like a virus (go viral). You see doubling rates and as many of you may know, of you double a dollar for a month, you have over a billion dollars. In fact if the month has 31 days, you get 2x more than a 30 day month.   Now we can translate this to a disruptive technology, such as solar, wind and storage. We are getting doubling rates and the trick here is to speed up the doubling rate. Not to accept a 4 year doubling rate, to go for a 1 year doubling rate. Some pessimists will have plenty of reasons why this cannot happen, and the answer is that the reason that this cannot happen is if we listen to pessimists.   We have to scale like we are putting the effort of a world war into it and the big thing here is instead of having a war and having a lot of people die, we have seen that wars can be good for the economy, so we can have a huge economic boom, without the war deaths.   It is inevitable that we will scale up solar, wind and storage, the question is how slow (or fast) are we going to go? If we go fast, there are many benefits, plus we are going to do it anyway, so let’s get it done.   Solar and Wind are already the cheapest forms of energy in the world. Energy storage is getting less expensive and in a few years, it will economically stupid to buy a new car that is not an EV and these EVs can easily be plugged in and wired for grid support, which will happen. The question is, are we going to sit around and whine, or are we humans going go get it done!   We are humans. We are the smartest thing in the universe. We can easily figure this out. If we put in an effort, we can pick a temperature and dial it in. We can put CO2 from the atmosphere back underground where it came from and set a thermostat. We are humans. We can do anything we set our minds too. It will happen, the question is when. Waiting is stupid. Getting it done now is smart and makes big money.   If the poor countries want a strategy, they can align themselves with the counties that help them set up solar, wind and storage. If the US wants to set up a base on some island, then it needs to come with solar, wind and storage. Perhaps if the island nation has a low credit rating, the US (or other country) can bring their credit rating to the base.   There are other low CO2 solutions, but we see right now that solar and wind are the least expensive, so it is a scaling solution. We need factories, good labor, robots making robots that make PV, wind and solar.    If we distract ourselves with excuses, neat ideas that do not come to fruition and blame for what someone did 50 years ago, then we will keep walking in circles. The solution is here. The solution will bring us out of any recession. The solution will create jobs, the solution will help children breathe clean air. The solution is scaling up big time solar, wind and storage. No excuses. All positive. Let’s get going.   For classes and everything controlled by the Sun God Ra, go to www.solarSEAN.com

2021 IRC requirements for ESS units to be less than 20kWh, 3-foot separation between ESS units, exceptions due to large-scale fire testing (UL 9540A), distance of ESS from garage window vs. window of living space, SolSmart.org PV, Future SolSmart ESS material Bill is developing, 2024 IRC Proposals, lithium-ion not good on the outside of a house in cold places and NFPA 855 Standard for ESS.

This video is based on the 2018 IFC and there are many places that are using the 2018 IFC, in fact I just taught an ESS  class to inspectors based on the 2015 IFC. You will have to check your own state to see which version is adopted. At the time I am writing this, the 2018 IFC is the most widely used version, although the 2021 IFC has already been released. Additionally, most of the language between different versions is the same, so understanding one version means you mostly understand the other. Don’t be one of those people that overly worries about studying a different version of a Code.   Topics we cover include: Large-scale fire testing (UL 9540A), FMEA, container batteries/ESS, Lead-acid, NiCad, Lithium-ion, maximum sizes, maximum allowable battery quantities, UL 9540, UL 1973, EMS energy management systems, BMS battery management systems

The 2023 NEC has been released and it is time to see how voltage, current and rapid shutdown look in the future!   2023 690 Part 2 includes:   690.7 Voltage 690.8 Current 690.9 OCPD 690.11 DC Arc Fault Protection 690.12 Rapid Shutdown   Reading the NEC can be heavy stuff, so if you do not get it the first time around, try listening to it backwards synced with Dark Side of the Moon. Then you will get the secret meaning.   Learn more and take happy classes on deciphering the Code at www.solarSEAN.com or www.HeatSpring.com/sean

Rapid Shutdown has traditionally meant putting module level power electronics in the array for PV systems on buildings. There has always been this part of the NEC 690.12(B)(2)(1) that gave you an option to comply with rapid shutdown inside the array with a listed hazard control system. Surprisingly, we can now go back to having something to what rapid shutdown used to be in the 2014 NEC, which we called array level rapid shutdown. Let’s see if someone gets something like this listed for a residential roof.   Links: https://www.sma-america.com/newsroom/current-news/news-details/news/5123-sma-america-and-sollega-partner-to-debut-the-first-ul-3741-pvhcs-certified-commercial-and-indus.html https://files.ironridge.com/flat-roof-mounting/resources/brochures/IronRidge_BX_System_UL3741_Installation_Addendum.pdf https://solarbuildermag.com/featured/ul-3741-rooftop-pv-system-complies-with-nec-690-12-without-mlpe/   To see a visual version, take these classes at www.HeatSpring.com/sean  40-Hour NABCEP Advanced PV Certification Training and CEUS 30-Hour NABCEP Advanced PV Certification Training and CEUS 2020 NEC PV, Energy Storage, Building and Fire Codes for PV System Inspectors

Every time the NEC comes out, I do a reading of my favorite NEC articles. I like to think of it as sort of a poetry reading, since I will try to make it as least dry (wet) as possible. This time I am going to give some commentary, so it is up to you to figure out what is Code and what is me interpreting and making Code fun by understanding the tone of my voice.   Here is where you can get free access to the 2023 NEC from the NFPA website: https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=70   This podcast is 690 Part 1 General, so stay tuned for more 690 Parts and more 2023 NEC articles, such as 2023 NEC 706 and more!!   Here are a few of the new things happening here in 2023 NEC 690 Part 1: We can now say string! Before it was a PV source circuit (and it still is). Floatovoltaics: Yes we have mention of special requirements for floating PV, which sort of reminds me of my and Bill's Sailboat. Now you can put boating on your PV resume. I describe some images so you can get the audio version of the visual, which is good brain exercise and prevents alzheimers  

This is a re-posting of a podcast where Sean White is interviewed by Tim Montegue on the Clean Power Hour Podcast.   If you have not already, be sure to save the Clean Power Hour podcast to your favorites. Tim is very active and has all kinds of experts on his podcast, including Jigar Shaw of the Department of Energy (Episode 83). I was honored to be interviewed on the Clean Power Hour and listen to the Clean Power Hour religiously.   Tim took my NABCEP PV Technical Sales Course at HeatSpring, so if it is good enough for Tim, it is good enough for you!   Show Notes From Clean Power Hour: Get a 15% discount to attend Midwest Solar Expo with discount code: CPH15. www.MidwestSolarExpo.com/, the premier B2B solar and clean energy event in the region. As innovation in solar chugs along and consumer perception climbs and falls, one thing is true.  New terminology – with accompanying acronyms – appears almost daily right now in solar industry.  From “solar economics” to “virtual power plants (VPP) ” to “frequency regulation” and “vehicle to grid (V2G),” these terms are the future of solar.  And solar is climbing high. Sean White is an award-winning solar photovoltaic (PV) professor, master trainer, solar contractor and author of several books, including Solar Photovoltaic Basics, Solar PV Engineering and Installation, PV Technical Sales, PV and the NEC and Energy Storage Basics.   On this episode of Clean Power Hour, Sean joins Tim to talk about important milestones in the history of solar technology from its inception in the 1950’s to its maturity today.  They discuss solar energy storage, bidirectional car batteries, self-consumption systems, V2G, VPPs, getting to cash positive, plus details on important upcoming industry conferences. Listen in to bring that expertise to the forefront to tackle any business challenge, hire new talent, acquire new business and so much more. Key Takeaways Milestones in PV cell development from its invention in 1954 to one gigawatt installed worldwide in 2000 to one terawatt installed worldwide in 2022  How the price adoption curve has played a major role in the solar industry How battery size and availability introduce the new frontier of solar: “solar plus storage”  Why California has half of solar energy production and its likely status-change to a “self-consumption system” in the very near future Sean’s predicted boom of self-consumption systems and how the “price is right” for bidirectional batteries in electric vehicles  The essential missing piece that is the main barrier to V2G technology Which mainstream car company is actively working on a V2G-ready car How solar energy will become economical in 5-10 years Why energy storage can assist with “frequency regulation” (injecting extra power into the grid or holding back when necessary) How the “solar coaster” came to be and why solar could be the next massive money-maker How utilities pushing back sends consumers migrating off grid Connect with Sean SolarSEAN.com Sean on LinkedIn Books by Sean White House Solar  Connect with Tim   Clean Power Hour   Clean Power Hour on YouTube Tim on Twitter Tim on LinkedIn  Email [email protected]  Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts Resources  HeatSpring.com Grid Alternatives RE+ Southeast Conference, May 11-12, 2022 Re+ Conference, September 19-22, 2022 InterSolar North America Conference, February 14-16, 2023 RE+ Northeast Confe The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Please subscribe on your favorite audio platform and on Youtube: bit.ly/cph-sub | www.CleanPowerHour.com | contact us by email:  [email protected] | Speeding the energy transition!

Some of the areas of the NEC that we cover in this podcast are: NEC Article 702 Optional Standby Systems, Load Control, Disconnecting Means, UL 1741 for Power Control Systems, 706.15 Location Control for 1 and 2-family Dwellings Quotes: Bill Brooks (soon to be famous quotes). “Tesla, Enphase, SolarEdge, are all getting listed as energy management systems.” “You will damage most generators if you run out of fuel under load.” “Hey Siri, turn off my ESS.” “Here’s what happened in the 2023 Code.” “706.15 Location Control for 1- and 2-Family Dwellings, an ESS shall include an emergency shutdown function to cease the export of power from the ESS to the premises wiring of other systems.” “You could have a device that could have rapid shutdown and ESS emergency shutdown” “you could use the same switch” This is a recording of part of an NEC workshop at the Intersolar 2022 conference at the Long Beach California Convention Center in January 2022.   The workshop was titled: Energy Storage, PV and the NEC.   Bill Brooks is instrumental in the process of coming up with material for the NEC for renewable energy systems, especially for solar, energy storage and interconnections. Although the 2023 NEC has not been finalized or published, this is as good of a preview as you can get for knowing what the future will bring. Many manufacturers, engineers, CEOs and other decisionmakers can make better informed decisions about the future, knowing what will be in the National Electrical Code. Bill Brooks is on NEC Code Making Panel 4 (the alternative energy panel) and has been perhaps the most active member of the PV Industry Forum, which is where new material for the NEC for Solar PV, Energy Storage and Interconnections are made. Bill has been working on Codes and Standards for 34 years. Bill Brooks and Sean White also published the book PV and the NEC. Note: This podcast was recorded on an iPhone 13 and to my surprise the recording quality was way better than expected, so we decided to podcast it! WARNING: Bill Brooks and Sean White sometimes think they are funny. If you disagree with this and do not like dad jokes, do not listen to this podcast.

Some of the areas of the NEC that we cover in this podcast are: Ground Fault Protection, Ground Fault Detection and interruption (GFDI) term clarified (not to be confused with GFCI), 690.45 Equipment Grounding Conductors (EGC) includes DC and AC not having to increase size of EGC when upsizing current carrying conductor for voltage drop (now also applies to AC PV and modifies NEC 250.122), 250.122 EGC sized based on OCPD, Microgrid Interconnect Device (MID), Interactive Mode vs. Voltage Mode, putting multiple inverters prior to the first OCPD, 705.13 Power Control Systems (PCS) was changed to Energy Management Systems (EMS), EMS was previously just for loads, Tesla Powerwall, PCS is not the part of the EMS that is controlling sources, Batteries as Source and Load, EVs Article 625, and more! Quotes: Bill Brooks (soon to be famous quotes). “Changes in size for voltage drop do not have to increase the size of the equipment grounding conductor” “It’s penalizing you for doing the right thing” Bill on 250.122 upsizing the EGC for voltage drop." “All we’ve done is we’ve taken the microgrid interconnect device and stuck it inside the inverter” Bill on multimode inverter with 2 AC outputs." “We could have a system that was 50kW going into a 100A service.”  “We have large systems right now, that have a 5MW interconnection that have a 30 PV array on them.”  “You can run a 400A feed to a large EV charging area, you can put 20 cars on it.” “The controller would never allow you to draw more than 400A.” “You have a controller that prevents the conductors from receiving too much current.” “At the end of the day, the NEC is all about safety. It’s all about, we do not burn buildings down with correctly installed electrical equipment.” This is a recording of part of an NEC workshop at the Intersolar 2022 conference at the Long Beach California Convention Center in January 2022.   The workshop was titled: Energy Storage, PV and the NEC.   Bill Brooks is instrumental in the process of coming up with material for the NEC for renewable energy systems, especially for solar, energy storage and interconnections. Although the 2023 NEC has not been finalized or published, this is as good of a preview as you can get for knowing what the future will bring. Many manufacturers, engineers, CEOs and other decisionmakers can make better informed decisions about the future, knowing what will be in the National Electrical Code. Bill Brooks is on NEC Code Making Panel 4 (the alternative energy panel) and has been perhaps the most active member of the PV Industry Forum, which is where new material for the NEC for Solar PV, Energy Storage and Interconnections are made. Bill has been working on Codes and Standards for 34 years. Bill Brooks and Sean White also published the book PV and the NEC. Note: This podcast was recorded on an iPhone 13 and to my surprise the recording quality was way better than expected, so we decided to podcast it! WARNING: Bill Brooks and Sean White sometimes think they are funny. If you disagree with this and do not like dad jokes, do not listen to this podcast.

Bill Brooks is instrumental in the process of coming up with material for the NEC for renewable energy systems, especially for solar, energy storage and interconnections. Although the 2023 NEC has not been finalized or published, this is as good of a preview as you can get for knowing what the future will bring. Many manufacturers, engineers, CEOs and other decisionmakers can make better informed decisions about the future, knowing what will be in the National Electrical Code. Bill Brooks is on NEC Code Making Panel 4 (the alternative energy panel) and has been perhaps the most active member of the PV Industry Forum, which is where new material for the NEC for Solar PV, Energy Storage and Interconnections are made. Bill has been working on Codes and Standards for 34 years. Bill Brooks and Sean White also published the book PV and the NEC. Some of the areas of the NEC that we cover in this podcast are: NEC Article 100 Definitions. All definitions moving to article 100 (no more 690.2 definitions), Electronic Power Converter, Electronic Transformer, Inverter Definition, PV Hazard Control UL 3741, Rapid Shutdown, 690.4, 690.12, NEC 750 Energy Management Systems (EMS), NEC 705.13 Power Control Systems (PCS), Net-Metering 3.0 Protest, NEC 712 DC Microgrids removed from the NEC and you use 705, PV String Circuits (strings now in NEC for first time), PV Output Circuit removed, PV System Output Circuit, Recombiner (Bill is not fond of this term), Paralleling Circuits in Harnesses, First Solar Modules, 2023 NEC PV Source Circuits go into and out of DC Combiner, String Circuit is series only (not parallel), DC-to-DC Converter Circuit, Wild PV, PV System Disconnect, 690.15 reorganized, Locking Requirements, Ground Fault Protection, Ground Fault Detection and interruption (GFDI) term clarified (not to be confused with GFCI), 690.45 Equipment Grounding Conductors (EGC) includes DC and AC not having to increase size of EGC when upsizing current carrying conductor for voltage drop (now also applies to AC). Quotes: Bill Brooks (soon to be famous quotes). “When you see a change in the Code, it does not mean that the requirements change.” “90% of changes in the Code are not changes in requirements” “We will never make a Code that will be clear to everyone” “Codes are using text to convey fairly complex concepts to the public” “Energy Management Systems (EMS) was unified with other parts of the Code” “NEC Code Making Panel 4 is referred to now as the alternative energy panel” “They’re putting maintenance requirements into a construction code” “We got PV string circuits into the NEC” “SolarEdge can put 100 PV modules on a Circuit” This is a recording of part of an NEC workshop at the Intersolar 2022 conference at the Long Beach California Convention Center in January 2022.   The workshop was titled: Energy Storage, PV and the NEC.   Note: This podcast was recorded on an iPhone 13 and to my surprise the recording quality was way better than expected, so we decided to podcast it! WARNING: Bill Brooks and Sean White sometimes think they are funny. If you disagree with this and do not like dad jokes, do not listen to this podcast.

Keith Cronin: Solar MBA instructor on HeatSpring!   Keith sold his Hawaii solar company Island Energy Solutions to Jigar Shaw of SunEdison in 2007 after knowing Jigar since 2002.    Keith has been teaching his Solar MBA class for just over a decade with co-instructor and attorney Chris Lord. They have taught many students, including oil and gas refugees.    Keith Cronin does consulting via his company Sun Hedge with clients all over the world, including the Department of Defense.  He has lived in many different countries throughout his solar career.    Listening to this podcast will give you insight into the process for developing large solar projects and systems to run your growing business.    Final wise words from Keith Cronin: Fail more quickly Stumble ahead Don’t be afraid Ask questions Learn from others and you’ll be glad you did! Click here to find out more about Keith Cronin’s classes!   Make sure to stop by www.SolarSEAN.com for a life altering experience! Knowledge is power and power times time is energy!

Welcome to 2022, the year of the Terawatt! That's right, this year will cross the trillion watt mark!   2022 will be remembered as the year that humanity reached the magic number of 1 trillion watts, aka 1 terawatt or 1TW of solar installed since the beginning of time. We do not have to take into consideration the amount of solar taken out of service, since that is so low, it probably will be replaced in less than a month, so that means we will hit the milestone of installed 1TW since 1 million BC and we will also have 1TW that is installed and working every day.   1TW = 1000GW = a million megawatts!   According to a July 2021 article titles "Solar continues to break installation records, on track for Terawatt scale by 2022" by Solar Power Europe, Earth will hit 900 GW in 2021, 1.1 TW in 2022, 1.3 TW in 2023, 1.6 TW in 2023, and 1.8 TW in 2025.    At a world population of 7.9 Billion, we are close to hitting another milestone too.    To put a trillion watts into context, the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl was 1GW, so the power output of 1000 Chernobyls is about equal to the power output of solar on Earth sometime in 2022. There are a little over 2TW of coal plants operating in the world right now, so we are not there yet. I also do not want to fool you and have to mention that coal and nuclear do work at night, so we need more solar to make up for that, along with energy storage and high voltage DC lines across time zones, which is more easily engineered physically than politically. Can you imagine Middle America allowing the East and West Coasts sharing daylight electricity via power lines through their states? Perhaps we will have to stick to energy storage right now.    I once saw a presentation by Dr. Shi who was the founder of Suntech in China, where he pointed out that we could have high voltage dc (HVDC) power lines that circle the globe. The pathway would be from South Africa, up to Eurasia and then across the Bering Straits to Alaska and down to Argentina. Once climate change hits, perhaps we can also have an HVDC extension to the green pastures of Antartica!   To put HVDC into context and using 1 million volts as an example, we would be able to carry a MW with 1 Amp! We would be able to carry a GW, which is all of the power that Chernobyl could produce with 1000A. There are many homes that are wired for 100A and many buildings that are wired for well over 1000A. Depending on your source, the largest PV project in the world is about 1GW, so now putting that into wire sizing terms, you can easily transport a GW using wire tables in the NEC (utilities do not have to follow the NEC and can size their wires smaller).    The reason that HVDC is the perfect way to carry large amounts of power over long distances, is because Voltage x Current = Power, so with high voltage, you need much less current for the same amount of power and current is what heats up a wire, not voltage. The reason that we do not use high voltage in our houses is because high voltage is sparky.   Go to www.SolarSEAN.com to find out more!

In this question we have the following questions and answers:   1. Net metering: Why it is different in different places whether or not you can and should feed energy back to the grid when you have an excess.   2. How bypass diodes work and also with half-cell PV modules.   3. Why solar goes so well with energy storage systems (ESS).   4. National Electrical Code (NEC) articles 480 Storage Batteries vs. 706 Energy Storage Systems and why you should use 706   For more info, go to www.solarSEAN.com

Sean White (solarSEAN.com) is interviewed on his former student Cory Vanderpool's podcast.    The talk about various subjects including:   Solar and wind are finally cheapest forms of electricity   EVs bringing down the cost of lithium-ion Energy Storage Systems (ESS)   Battery benefits including being a load, besides being a source of power    Wind power’s cubed relationship to wind speed   Frequency regulation is the biggest use for energy storage right now   Negative energy pricing in Germany   Ramp rates of energy storage beating all other forms of energy by a long shot, especially underground mined resources (fossil fuels and nuclear)   EV to grid future   LG Batteries in cars vs. home ESS price being the same   Lithium-ion graphite anodes, silicon anodes, lithium metal anode, specific energy (energy per weight), dendrites, energy density (energy per volume)   Sean’s $0.20 to $0.40 per kWh battery price prediction in 10-years   Soldering home-made lithium-ion battery packs   Battery cells, battery modules, battery packs definition   Buying houses with pre-existing solar, real estate with solar, and knowing how to value them, solar valuation, solar asset value, solar offset value (offsetting electricity)   You can see Cory’s podcast home page at: https://sparkcertified.mykajabi.com/podcasts/solar-broadcast   Cory’s webpage: www.SparkPros.com   Twitter www.twitter.com/acoryvanderpool   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-vanderpool-85bb764a/   Michael Ginsburg’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Photovoltaic-Power-Optimization-Verification-ebook/dp/B07YQ9D7V2   Sean White's classes, books and everything else: www.solarSEAN.com

In this podcast we answer 2 questions: 1) Grounding is important and can be confusing with many different theories of how and why it should be done. Here we are going to talk about the basics, including the neutral (grounded conductor), the equipment grounding conductor (EGC) and the grounding electrode conductor (GEC). We will even make a mention of SWER (single wire earth return), which means using 1 wire for transmission and using the Earth as a conductor! Here is a link about that last part, so you don’t think I am making it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return 2) Batteries were once always included with PV systems and not as the grid has more intermittent renewables, batteries are making a comeback. We will discuss energy storage, off grid PV systems in Haines Alaska’s Mud Bay and microhydro for generating electricity. 3) Monocrystalline PV has taken over the number 1 spot from polycrystalline silicon solar cells in the last few years. We will discuss the differences of how these solar cells are made and how they look. To find out more about solar and storage, go to www.solarSEAN.com

This podcast answers 3 questions on solar and storage. 1) EV to home can mean EV to grid and EV to backup. Ford has announced that their F-150 Lightning Electric Pickup will be released next year and will have the ability to backup a house. What does that mean? Will it be able to work with a PV system and keep the battery charged or will it only work as long as the battery is charged? Will it be able to send electricity to the grid? 2) Now that there are a tremendous amount of lithium-ion batteries being manufactured, what will happen at the end of their lives? Fortunately, lithium-ion battery materials are not very toxic, unlike lead-acid batteries. Just like with solar modules, if we accidentally throw the materials in the trash, it will not be a toxicity issue, just a waste issue. Lithium-ion batteries will get recycled and the most important aspect of this is the need for cobalt, since much of the cobalt comes from the Congo, where child labor is often used. 3) The average efficiency of PV being installed these days hovers somewhere under 20% and the super high efficiency that people buy for some rich people's homes can be 22% efficient. It is interesting that for space applications, you can see up to 40% efficient PV, which has to be super-efficient! Even the richest guy in the world (Elon Musk) thinks gallium arsenide PV is expensive for space and has mentioned that he is using some crystalline silicon PV on some satellites. To find out more about gallium arsenide space solar cells, go to https://www.spectrolab.com/photovoltaics.html and make sure you have a few million bitcoin on your credit card (joke). To find out more about solar and storage, go to www.solarSEAN.com

This is an audio version of the workshop that Sean White taught at the ASES conference at the University of Colorado Boulder on August 6, 2021. To see a video version, go to www.solarSEAN.com for a link to Sean's YouTube channel or find some of this material in Sean's classes at www.HeatSpring.com/sean   You can also find most of the material form Sean's Intensive PV workshop at the ASES conference, which was covered in the last podcast listed on HeatSpring for 2 hours of free NABCEP CE credit at https://www.heatspring.com/courses/introduction-to-solar-pv-design-installation-and-code?aff_id=t3nlgw    Here is the description of the workshop straight from the ASES.org website: This workshop will be jam-packed with NEC insight and interpretation. Sean White teaches PV courses around the world and has authored many technical PV books. Solar Photovoltaic Basics 2nd Ed., Energy Storage Basics, Solar PV Engineering and Installation 2nd Ed., Solar PV Technical Sales and PV and the NEC 2nd Ed. Sean will fill you up with as much information as possible in the time given, while entertaining you. This year Sean will focus more on Energy Storage Systems (ESS) than he has in the past.   Did you know that the NEC allows us to backfeed your house with electric vehicles (EVs) and that it is just the EV manufacturers holding us back? Be ready for when EV manufacturers let us do what they already should have.   This course will count for NABCEP continuing education requirements in every category and will also count for prerequisites for NABCEP Certification.   This course will also include a $200 discount for Sean’s advanced online PV classes.   A printable color digital certificate included with course, along with .pdf files of the presentation.   Your instructor is based in the US and teaches classes internationally. His resume can be seen here www.maximumpowerpointtraining.com   Be sure to check out next year's ASES conference in Albuquerque New Mexico on June 20-24 ases.org/conference see you there! go to www.solarSEAN.com

This podcast is a recording of a workshop Sean taught at the ASES Solar 2021 Conference at the University of Colorado Boulder on August 6, 2021.   This Solar PV Intensive Workshop was fast paced and covered a lot of information. This workshop was in a way covering the same material Sean covers in his Solar PV Boot Camps, which are often 40 hours long in a quick 1.5 hours. There are slides and if you want to see the video version, you will be able to see it at Sean's Youtube channel. Here is the Youtube link for this video.   Topics covered include, Energy Storage Systems (ESS), PV Markets   To find out more about solar and energy storage or classes with Sean White and Bill Brooks, go to www.solarSEAN.com

Hawaii has more solar PV per capita than any other state. Since PV is the least expensive energy in the world now, this concentration of PV will soon hit other states and Hawaii is paving the way with new policies that will be able to deal with this abundance of noontime energy. California, which has a lot more people and by for more solar than any other state is also dealing with this abundance.   In this podcast, we will discuss one of Hawaii’s policies put in place to deal with the possibility of producing more energy than the grid needs, but still letting people export to the grid. The policy we are covering is called Customer Grid Supply Plus (CGS+). Get ready for these new types of policies to come to you.   We will also discuss energy storage, and a student review of one of our free classes for 2 hours of NABCEP credit that I do with Bill Brooks where we sadly get accused of being "too funny".   To find out more and to take some of my not-boring classes, go to www.solarSEAN.com

In this podcast, Sean answers 3 questions and then we finish it off with some wise words from Bill Brooks where Bill and Sean discus the purpose of NFPA 855 Standard For The Installation Of Stationary Energy Storage Systems.  To find out more about solar and energy storage or classes with Sean White and Bill Brooks, go to www.solarSEAN.com

In this podcast, Sean answers questions about net-metering sustainability, with examples from the most mature PV markets in the US, Hawaii and California and how energy storage solves problems when intermittent renewables are on the grid.    There were some changes in the 2017 NEC, where the requirement to have a temperature adder with conduit in sunlight over a roof were removed, making wire sizing simpler, although wire sizing is arguably the most difficult part of designing a PV system.   Our last topic here has to do with the optimal way to face your PV, given the restrictions of having an east-west facing rooftop. As Jim Morrisoin says, "West is the best!"   To find out more, go to solarSEAN.com

In this podcast we once again cover questions from you and those like you by popular demand. We will get into the different terminology and how it changed in different versions of the NEC, when we talk about ungrounded, grounded and functionally grounded inverters. We talk about the correct terminology for combining batteries in parallel and differentiate between community solar and community choice aggregation among other things.   To find out more about renewable energy, go to solarSEAN.com

In this episode, we cover tilting PV modules, and seasonal tilting, why most PV modules at 60 cell and 72 cell modules, net-metering and energy storage.    To find out more about solar and energy storage or to ace any NABCEP exam, go to solarSEAN.com

In this podcast, we are going answer questions related to solar and energy storage. The first question is about NABCEP and how they are going about adopting the latest version of the NEC. The next question is about higher power PV modules and are they bigger and more dangerous to install. The last question is about how to deal with and what to do about the possibility of manufacturers going out of business.   To find out more about Solar and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) go to solarSEAN.com

In this podcast we talk about the new UL standard for PV, which replaces UL 1703 for PV with UL 61730, which took place in December of 2020. You can still use UL 1703, just if you come out with a new module design, it needs to comply with UL 61730, which makes things easier, since it is the same test around the world, instead of having a different test for the US and Europe for instance.   We also talk about the new UL 3741 PV Hazard Control Standard, aka the Rapid Shutdown standard, which is another way of complying with 690.12 in the 2020 NEC, so you can perhaps have up to 3 modules in series after shutdown now. Mid Circuit Interrupters (MCI) on every third module maybe all you need for rapid shutdown as long as it is a UL 3741 listed solution. This is big news and a new way to deal with rapid shutdown. An MCI is likely to be a switch that does not do maximum power point tracking (MPPT), or you can have a dc-to-dc converter (optimizer) that does MPPT on a group of 3 PV modules.   To learn more about energy storage, solar, the building codes, the NEC and everything else, go to www.solarsean.com