Sean White‘s Solar and Energy Storage Podcast

This is the fourth and final part of an interview with Greg Smith of Sonnen Battery. In this podcast we cover Greg’s opinion against rapid shutdown (RSD) requirements of the NEC, a book he is writing, whole house backup and how fast a Sonnen can react to a grid outage, which is 100 milliseconds. To find out more about everything solar and storage, go to solarSEAN.com

When you connect PV to Energy Storage, you have to decide if you are going to have them connected together via ac or dc electricity. There are benefits to each for different applications. We will talk about the nuances of ac coupling and dc coupling and give you the benefits and drawbacks of each. To find out more and expand your knowledge, go to solarsean.com

In this podcast, we will learn about the basics of electricity, from voltage to the speed of electricity. We will even get inside of the heads of Charles Coulomb and Henry Ampere. Did you know that 1A is about 6 x 10^18 electrons passing by in a second? And that that many electrons, besides being a lot is also called a coulomb and some batteries do charging by coulomb counting. How can anyone count that high? For more interesting facts, listen to Sean's podcasts, go to solarsean.com and sign up for Sean's HeatSpring classes or hire him live!

In this series of Podcasts we are going to take an unbiased look at different popular Energy System Components. In this podcast we will cover Solar Generac/Pika, Sonnen, Solis, Sol-Ark, Fortress, KiloVault, Trojan Trillium, Rolls, Sunverge, Schneider, SimpliPhi, SMA, BYD and Victron. To find out more about Sean White, solar and energy storage classes, NABCEP exam Prep, books and customized projects, or even solar installations, go to solarsean.com

In this series of Podcasts we are going to take an unbiased look at different popular Energy System Components. In this podcast we will cover Solar Edge StorEdge, LG Chem RESU, Enphase and Tesla. In upcoming podcasts in this series, we will cover Generac/Pika, Sonnen, Solis, Sol-Ark, Fortress, KiloVault, Trojan Trillium, Rolls, Sunverge, Schneider, SimpliPhi, SMA, BYD and Victron. To find out more about Sean White, solar and energy storage classes, NABCEP exam Prep, books and customized projects, or even solar installations, go to solarsean.com

Upon finishing this podcast, you will forever remember the top three lithium-ion battery chemistries, which are LFP, NMC and NCA, also known as Lithium Iron Phosphate, Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide and Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide. We will cover more about lithium batteries, such as including the definition of specific energy, which is energy per weight, rather than energy density, which is energy per volume. To learn more about solar and energy storage, classes and Sean White, go to solarSEAN.com!

Greg used to be the face of SMA America training and now is the face of Sonnen battery education in the US. This episode, we talk about energy storage self-consumption, energy storage without backup being common in Germany, PG&E public safety power shutoffs and demand for backup in the us, autonomy, ac-coupling, frequency control, module level power electronics, and some companies overestimating the shading losses with string inverters, which Greg is passionate about. To find out more about solar education and the easiest way to pass NABCEP exams, go to solarSEAN.com

In this part of my interview with Brian Hayden, we discuss drones, space, making online class content, how COVID effects the solar industry, a view of the solar industry stepping back and blurring out the ups and downs and what does good online training look like. To find out more about this podcast or HeatSpring online training, where Sean has now had 15k students sign up for his online classes, go to solarsean.com

This is a reading from the 2020 NEC of Article 705 Interconnected Power Production Sources, which features 705.11 Supply-Side Source Connections, 705.12 Load-Side Source Connections and the new in 2020 705.13 Power Control Systems (PCS). 705.13 is new and will be very useful for making interconnections, so that we are not limited by the options in 705.11 and 705.12. When we have very smart electronics coordinating the currents, such as with smart load centers, CTs and smart inverters, PCSs can make sure our busbars do not melt. Artificial Intelligence anyone? For someone who is just learning about PV or energy storage and has no idea about the NEC, this might be overwhelming, or at least a way to get familiar with the terminology while falling to sleep. For those of you that are familiar with the NEC, dive into island mode! For more information about Sean White, Solar and Energy Storage, such as online classes or hiring Sean to teach at your company for NABCEP credit, go to solarsean.com.

This week, we discuss the importance of software, artificial intelligence, controllable breakers, 2020 NEC 690.13 Power Control Systems, home automation platforms, blockchain, benefits to ac coupling, a 10,000 cycle warranty, Shell’s purchase of Sonnen and Shell’s renewable energy history. To find out more about Sean White’s, online classes or to hire Sean for live trainings for NABCEP credit go to www.solarsean.com.

Greg Smith is a micro-Celebrity in the Solar and Storage industry. He has been the top US technical training manager at two of the top German renewable energy companies. Sonnen is perhaps the most mature lithium ion company in the world that has just celebrated its 10th birthday. If you have been to a big solar show in the US in the last 10 years, you have passed Greg, probably with a crowd around him, as he is excited about the technology he espouses. This is part 1 of a series of podcasts with Greg. In this episode we cover Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Lithium-ion batteries, UL 9540 listing of complete Energy Storage Systems and what the inspectors sometimes look for. To find out more about Sean White, go to solarsean.com

This week we learn how HeatSpring came to be by two MBA candidates from Boston based Babson College’s entrepreneur program. Their recipe is to find the best instructors, who are SMEs that like to teach and many often write books. HeatSpring has been a success story. We also discuss Grid Alternatives, which is an organization that compliments online solar training very well and is often described as the Habitat for Humanity for solar, where people, including our students get free hands-on experience installing solar on real houses, and at the same time getting that feel good feeling for helping people in need get away from under their monthly electricity bills. To learn more about Sean White or his classes, go to solarsean.com

Brian Hayden discusses how HeatSpring started as an offshoot of two HS co-founders trying to get educated in renewable energy with the idea of becoming integrators. They were unsuccessful at finding the education they wanted, so they started HeatSpring, with the idea that they would get the best instructors in the world who are often authors. They would let the instructors use their own material and split the revenue rather than getting cheap instructors to make curriculum, teach classes and taking most of the profits for their organizations, google add-words and high pressure sales people, which is what they found in the industry. Sean learns in this podcast how HeatSpring started out with live trainings in Boston and evolved to go at your own pace 100% online education. Find out more about the “most excellent” free and not free HeatSpring classes at solarsean.com

Sean White gets interviewed as he was getting ready to interview Brian Hayden. They were having a conversation which fortunately was recorded where Brian Hayden, a podcaster himself seemed to be interviewing the interviewer. This part 1 of a multiple part series of conversations with Brian Hayden. Brian has a podcast of his own, which goes well with his Entrepreneurship course at the world renowned University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship. Brian's podcast is called Finding Your Venture and can be found at FindingYourVenture.com. To find out more about Sean, to sign up for his courses or to hire him, go to solarsean.com. Stay safe!

In this podcast, we go off on the EV manufacturers for not having a good enough excuse to let us connect our cars up for bidirectional purposes. Rather than blaming it on the warranty only being for 100,000 miles or 10 years, why not add 33,000kWh to the mix and then if you overused your battery powering your house, that could be another way for your battery warranty to expire. Bill picked 33MWh and if it is good enough for Bill, it is good enough for the EV industry. Let's start a movement and agree to buy the first EV that offers this technology. We know they can all easily do it and it is not an engineering problem. Perhaps the battery industry is more interested in selling batteries for your car and your home separately. EV to grid is also known as V2G. This podcast is part of a free class titled "Solar Building Codes, Fire Codes, EVs, Rapid Shutdown and Energy Storage Systems", which you can find the link to by going to www.solarsean.com

In this episode, we talk about 2020 NEC Article 625 Electric Vehicle Power Transfer System. It is ok with the NEC that we can use our cars to feed the grid and power our homes, so what is the hold up with the EV manufacturers? We will cover more of this answer in our next episode, but this time we will get into the details, and focus on 625.42 Rating, which will allow us to 4000A of EV chargers (and bidirectional EV Power Transfer Systems) on a 1000A feeder as long as we have the load management to make everything safe. 625.42 was the inspiration for 2020 NEC 705.13 Power Control Systems! You can also learn more about these topics in our online Heatspring classes, some of them free. Find your way there and to many good places at the address of solarsean.com!

The 2018 International Residential Code (IRC) now allows for 18 inches from the ridge instead of 3 feet. Bill was involved in the process of making these rules and explains how the 2018 IRC works. This is very important for those of you involved in rooftop solar markets in the US. In some states you can go all the way up to the ridge, other states you can go up to 18 inches from the ridge and yet in others it is 3 feet. With the price of solar PV so low, people are wanting to put as much PV as they can on their roofs, including on the north side. This podcast contains material from a recently released Heatspring free online class entitled: Solar Building Codes, Fire Codes, EVs, Rapid Shutdown and Energy Storage Systems. This free online course counts for 2 hours of NABCEP continuing education credits and prerequisites. You can find out more by going to www.solarsean.com.

Bill Brooks has been in the solar industry for 32 years. He trains inspectors, consults with solar farm owners, is a licensed professional engineer, is on code making panel 4 and is in charge of writing much of the NEC as it pertains to solar energy. Brooks teaches and writes books with Sean White. This interview is part of the 40-hour Advanced PV and NABCEP Certification exam prep and CEU online class on Heatspring. They were both coronavirus free at the time of this interview.

NEC Article 710 Stand-Alone Systems is short and this reading will get you thinking about living off the grid or will get you ready for when the apocalypse comes and your prepper tendencies pay off!

Funny interview! Sean White interviews the worlds first solar installer Bob. Bob has been installing solar for longer than you can imagine! Bob sometimes works for the aliens on the History Channel.

2020 NEC article 706 Energy Storage Systems (ESS) is the latest in implementing storage technology into the grid and off grid. Lithium battery technology is decreasing in price as the price decreases and as intermittent renewables take over. This podcast is an energetic reading of article 706 and a way to catch up on the code as you drive, exercise or sleep through osmosis. NEC Article 706 is complimented by Article 690 PV Systems, Article 705 Interconnections and Article 480 batteries. Learn!

This podcast is a reading from NEC Article 690 PV systems [Skip to the next podcast if the NEC is not your cup of tea]. Every 3 years the NEC comes out and I choose to pod-post it for you and my Heatspring Online PV classes. If you are not a technical PV person, you will find listening to this podcast exceptional for insomnia and becoming familiar with solar lingo. When I first read the NEC, I had no idea what it meant, but it did become familiar and was a step towards enlightenment.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series.

Paul Fenn of Local Power came up with the idea for the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) law at the University of Chicago. The CCA law has been passed in over 1500 municipalities. Utilities spent millions trying to stop CCAs. Bloomberg Business Week said Paul is the "utility industry’s enemy number 1”. David does not kill Goliath here. His CCA law does not do away with utilities and still uses them for lines, poles and billing. This is part 1 of a 2 part series.

Sean White gets interviewed about his book writing on the get published podcast.

Rapid Shutdown of PV Systems on Buildings came into the US Codes in the 2014 version of the NEC and has been changing ever since. This provision was put in place so that firefighters will feel safe to save buildings with PV on them.

The solar industry has been growing at such a fast pace, that if it kept growing this fast, earth would be completely covered with PV and look like the Death Star in less than a century. This is driven by cheap PV and a need for cleaner and cheaper energy.

The National Electrical Code (NEC) is the most thoroughly detailed Code for installing PV systems in the world. Join us for a brief overview.