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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...