Wrenches,
Matt Paiss is wanted to chime in here. He's a member of the
Code-Making Panel No. 4 Firefighter Safety Task Group, as well as
SEIA's PV Industry Forum.
Since he can't post to the list, I am sharing his comments with the group:
Drake,
After reading your initial comments, I think you have nailed both
the intent of this code section as well as the benefits. But in
reading your second posting, I felt it important to write you. As
one of the representatives from the Fire Service that drafted
690.12, I can tell you that while there is always room for
improvement in language, the goal is to have PV that can not start
a fire. As I am not a "wrench" I can not post to the list (feel
free to share any of my comments here if you wish), but I would
like to chime in on this conversation.
Your assertion that ALECs are targeting the PV industry is not
taking place in this process. There are many hard-working
individuals from the PV industry, electrical inspectors, and the
fire service working together to keep PV safe and secure for many
years to come. I for one have both PV and thermal on my home.
While you are correct that no fire fighter fatalities have resulted
from a PV system shock, the goal is to prevent the first. One
problem is that the PV industry has not adequately addressed the
arc and ground fault problems in the US. Simply put, many rooftop
systems are not NEC compliant; they can not detect and interrupt
all faults. This has unfortunately resulted in far too many
fires. The many additions & changes to sec 690 in the 2014 cycle
will go far in achieving a much safer system.
The fire service is becoming increasingly aware, educated, and
involved in the code process for PV safety. It should be clear
that the goal for all parties is a safe electrical product. There
is no secret agenda to pull the rug out from under solar. To those
that are concerned with the imbedded cost increases, please take a
longer view than your current FY. The systems that fire fighters
respond to may be many years old, but in reality most of the fires
have occurred on new systems. We will respond to older systems
over time, and some buildings will be lost due to concern over the
inability to isolate power down to a safe level. As I teach
firefighters about electrical safety, many express both an interest
in PV as well as concern that it should be possible to shut a
system down in the event of an emergency either manually, or as a
result of a fault.
Thank you,
Matt
CA Matthew Paiss, E19B
Bureau of Field Operations
San Jose Fire Department
1661 Senter Rd
San Jose, CA 95113
(831) 566-3057 c
BTW: the stakeholders who developed the consensus language in 690.12
are listed in the NEC 2014 Report on Comments:
This comment is the result of a consensus process established among
three groups of stakeholders: 1) CMP4 Firefighter SafetyTask Group;
2) SEIA Codes and Standards Working Group; and 3) PV Industry Forum.
Participants in these groups included the following individuals:
CMP4 Firefighter Safety Task Group
1. Ward Bower, CMP4 representing SEIA
2. Bill Brooks, CMP4 representing SEIA and Chair of Task Group
3. Bob Davidson, Davidson Code Concepts
4. Mark Earley, Secretary, NFPA
5. Bob James, UL
6. Matt Paiss, City of San Jose Fire Department
7. Jim Rogers, CMP4 representing IAEI
8. Todd Stafford, CMP4 representing IBEW
9. Ronnie Toomer, Chair of CMP4
10. Peter Willse, Global Asset Protection Services
SEIA Codes and Standards Working Group
1. Mark Albers, SunPower
2. Mark Baldassari, Enphase Energy
3. Ward Bower, SEIA
4. Bill Brooks, Brooks Engineering/SEIA
5. Joe Cain, Chair of SEIA Codes and Standards Working Group
6. Keith Davidson, SunTech
7. Darrel Higgs, Dow Solar
8. Lee Kraemer, First Solar
9. Carl Lenox, SunPower
10. Charles Luebke, Eaton
11. Martin Mesmer, E.ON
12. Steve Pisklak, Dow Solar13. Robert Rynar, First Solar
14. Michael Schenck, First Solar
15. John Smirnow, SEIA
16. Kris VanDerzee, First Solar
17. Leo Wu, SolarCity
18. Tilak Gopalarathnam, REFUsol Incorporated
PV Industry Forum
1. Mark Albers, SunPower
2. Greg Ball, DNV
3. Bill Brooks, Brooks Engineering, lead for 690.12
4. Mark Baldassari, Enphase Energy
5. Ward Bower, SEIA
6. Michael Coddington, NREL
7. Marv Dargatz, SolarEdge
8. Chris Flueckiger. UL
9. Joerg Grosshennig, SMA
10. Darrel Higgs, Dow Solar
11. Dan Lepinski, Exeltech
12. Carl Lenox, SunPower
13. Charles Luebke, Eaton
14. Matt Paiss, City of San Jose Fire Department
15. Steve Pisklak, Dow Solar
16. Jim Rogers, Town of Oak Bluffs
17. Jon Sharp, Ampt
18. Bhima Sheridan, SolarCity
19. John Smirnow, SEIA
20. Holly Thomas, U.S. Dept. of Energy
21. Phil Undercuffler, Outback Power
22. John Wiles, NMSU, Secretary of PV Industry Forum
23. Leo Wu, SolarCity
24. Tim Zgonena, UL
On Jan 24, 2014, at 1:00 PM,
<mailto:re-wrenches-requ...@lists.re-wrenches.org>re-wrenches-requ...@lists.re-wrenches.org
wrote:
From: Drake
<<mailto:drake.chamber...@redwoodalliance.org>drake.chamber...@redwoodalliance.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] NEC 2014 690.12 Rapid Shutdown
Date: January 22, 2014 2:16:18 PM CST
To: RE-wrenches
<<mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>
Reply-To: RE-wrenches
<<mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>
David,
My sincere thanks to all of you who worked to keep the module level
disconnect requirement out of the 2014 code cycle. That ruling
would have amounted to a knockout punch for string and central
inverters on buildings.
What was the driving force behind this push for immediate module
level disconnection? There has clearly not been a rash of
firefighter deaths due to PV systems. Although PV needs to continue
evolving safety standards that take into account the concerns of
firefighters, there is no crisis that would justify thwarting one
of the few growing sectors of our economy.
The PV track record has been amazingly good. So far, I've found no
accounts of solar related firefighter deaths or injuries. The NFPA
statistics show that the highest cause of firefighter death is
heart attack.
<http://www.nfpa.org/newsandpublications/nfpa-journal/2013/july-august-2013/features/firefighter-fatalities-in-the-united-states-2012>http://www.nfpa.org/newsandpublications/nfpa-journal/2013/july-august-2013/features/firefighter-fatalities-in-the-united-states-2012
This push for crippling regulation bears the earmark of ALEC's
extensive and effective war on solar. As you can read in the
following links, the massively funded, Koch brothers-linked ALEC is
lobbying heavily, on every level, to derail solar. All who are
associated with the solar industry need to be aware of this
powerful lobbying campaign.
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/alec-freerider-homeowners-assault-clean-energy>http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/alec-freerider-homeowners-assault-clean-energy
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/05/alec_freeriders_with_solar_panels_must_pay_for_robbing_the_system/
<http://beforeitsnews.com/environment/2014/01/alec-gain-an-inside-track-on-colorado-solar-2490132.html>http://beforeitsnews.com/environment/2014/01/alec-gain-an-inside-track-on-colorado-solar-2490132.html
Is there any way that the solar community can be alerted when
threats to our industry are being put before the NEC? Although few
contractors have the time or money to walk away from their
businesses and attend code writing committees, a substantial number
might have the time to make phone calls and send letters or emails
to code writers.
The solar industry needs a strong lobby of its own.
Drake
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