Electical Contractor

According to the National ­Alliance for Advanced Battery Technology, the confluence of powerful trends underway across the nation’s electrical-energy system is driving the need for a drastically different approach to managing the grid system in the 21st century.

If solar is the world’s most plentiful source of energy, it could be argued that the practical implications of solar technology should be equally limitless.

A recent study by the consulting firm Clean Power Research showed that solar power in New Jersey and Pennsylvania delivers value to the electric grid that exceeds its cost by a large margin, making it a bargain for consumers.

Who says government can’t be run more like a business? The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched an initiative that embraces one of the fundamental principles of market economics.

It is often said there is nothing new under the sun. There’s truth in that statement, but it ignores the fortuitous mistake or “Edisonian” moment. Such game-changers are often the result of exciting work being done in labs and promising technology picked up by enterprising startup companies.

Despite the growing popularity of solar power, the one thing that still casts a long shadow over the technology, and keeps everyone from installing a new photovoltaic (PV) system on their rooftop, is the high upfront cost. Recognizing this barrier, incentives are the norm.

In the years that renewable power has been fighting for market competitiveness, overcoming the high capital costs compared to conventional energy sources has always been the big challenge. Now, for at least one form of renewable energy, it appears that challenge may have been met.

Everyone is selling something, whether it’s a physical product or an intangible, such as professional qualifications. As electrical contractors (ECs), it is your job to deliver solutions for electrical needs.

I started this series of articles after a friend asked some questions about overcurrent protection for the direct current (DC) output of photovoltaic (PV) modules, the DC output of combiner boxes, the location of disconnects for both the DC side and the alternating current (AC) side of the inverter,