Featured in Energy Storage Highlights 2018

No shock for US rooftops

As solar power approaches two million rooftops in the United States, the National Electric Code (NEC) has become increasingly demanding in the name of protecting first responders. Starting in 2014, the NEC began an evolution with a goal of reducing the risk of shock hazard when fighting fires. The pathway would be via“rapid shutdown.”

By

John Fitzgerald Weaver

11 Sep 2018

Commercial and industrial EPC Beaumont Solar meets the 2017 NEC requirements by placing inverters right next to their solar array at a New Bedford, Massachusetts rooftop installation. | Image: Beaumont Solar

In the 2014 version of the U.S. National Electric Code (NEC), it was introduced in section 690.12 that “PV system circuits installed on or in a building shall include a rapid shutdown function…” The rules asked that within 10 feet (3.04 m) of an array, solar systems de-energize to below 30 volts and 240 volt-amperes …

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