SEI: Grid-Tied PV Design


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Grid-Tied PV Systems

The U.S. grid-tied market is the fastest growing sector of the PV market, due in part to net metering laws and state and federal incentives. Many businesses focus solely on batteryless grid-tied installations. Companies are looking to hire people with the educational background for installation,
sales, and design positions. This course uses curriculum from the PV Design and Installation workshop but offers a stronger focus on the batteryless grid-tied market and will not cover battery-based systems. If you know that you will be working in an urban area with a focus on batteryless grid-tied installations, the Grid-tied PV class is for you.

Then, if you are serious about getting into the solar industry, you should also plan to take Advanced PV: Design Criteria and NEC Compliance (face-to-face or online). The Advanced PVworkshop is intended to follow our first tier of workshops with the next level of design criteria, wire sizing calculations, maintenance issues, troubleshooting skill, and more information on batteries, charge controllers and hybrid system. (Please note that students from the Grid-Tied PV workshop will need to complete supplementary reading on stand-alone systems before continuing on to PV Lab Week or Advanced PV: Design Criteria and NEC Compliance.)

5 day workshops include 4 days of classroom lecture and 1 day of a lab simulation and tours.
4 Day Workshops include 4 days of classroom lecture. There is no hands-on component for this class.

Students leave this workshop being able to:

• Cite energy efficient solutions to reduce the load of a home
• Incorporate local climate and site conditions in PV system design
• Evaluate the differences between different commercially available components
• Obtain and apply module data from a spec sheet
• Perform load analysis for grid-tied systems
• Size a grid-tied system: inverter, array, wire, disconnects, overcurrent protection
• List advantages/disadvantages for various mounting types
• List order of commissioning and decommissioning & safety hazards
• Define net metering and state incentive programs
• Perform detailed site evaluation to determine system location & install details

Topics Include

Basics of Electricity
System Components
Component Specification
System Sizing
Energy Efficient Appliances
Solar Site Analysis
Electrical Wiring
Safety Procedures
Operation & Maintenance
Tours of PV Systems
Industry Guest Speakers
Laboratory Exercises

Sessions

Dates	Location	Price	Member Price	Duration	Status
October 20 - 24, 2008	Manteca, CA	$ 850	$ 800	5 days	[FULL]
November 10 - 14, 2008	Honolulu, HI	$ 850	$ 800	5 days	[FULL]
December 8 - 11, 2008	Corvallis, OR	$ 700	$ 650	4 days	[FULL]
March 30 - April 3, 2009	Salt Lake City, UT	$ 895	$ 845	5 days	open