Solar Array Quality: The Shocking Truth

scientificamerican.com:

Solar experts have regaled me with tales of poor workmanship they find when they do spot checks of installed systems. As improperly installed joints corrode, connections loosen, and wires fray, we may be looking forward to a wave of breakdowns in the coming years. "Not only is there a potential for an increase in system failures, but there is also a potential for a rise in unsafe and potentially lethal situations," says Corey Asbill of New Mexico State University.

Read the whole story: scientificamerican.com

Comments

[Kenz300]

04:04 PM on 02/19/2011

There needs to be some standardization of solar installations.

The company that comes up with a standard home unit for various homes
will make money. It is time to turn solar into more of a commodity product.
You should be able to buy a unit for a 1500, 2000, 2500 square foot home at your
local home improvement center. When that happens unit cost will go down and
standard installation procedures will be developed.

[tttony]

01:54 PM on 02/19/2011

Electricians are notorious thieves and scoundrels. No, wait. That's plumbers.

[Sumocat]

08:42 AM on 02/17/2011

Completely inaccurate headline. The article is about the workmanship of installation, not about the quality of the panels.

[The last sane American]

07:00 AM on 02/17/2011

I love a story that faults a contractor for not installing a ground wire just after faulting a contractor for installing an adequate ground wire connection!

[aligatorhardt]

05:29 AM on 02/17/2011

What is this, some kind of a hit job against solar power? Not one of these problems was about solar power, they were all about irresponsible electricians. These installations were substandard due to improper workmanship and the solar equipment was not the problem. Bad connections, unsupported wiring, no labels on disconnects, lack of grounding, all installer error, no problems with the solar panels. The headline should say " electricians acting badly ".

[SolarArray]

01:47 AM on 02/17/2011

That is not good. Regular checks by trained technicians are needed.

[nothingchanges]

06:19 PM on 02/16/2011

Who regulates the regulators? How qualified are they? Have they been bought?

I don't see any easy answers anymore. I can tell you from a life time of working construction that I have never seen a single structure built (and I have helped build thousands) that meets every requirement of the standard building codes. Codes which by the way are minimum requirements at best.

In my personal opinion, in a lot of ways, houses built 100 years ago were built better then they are now. (they are worse in a lot of ways as well, but that's the result of newer technologies and better understanding not generally from intent).

Craftsmen of old, built things to last, and depended on their reputations and word of mouth for work. Now its all.......... build it cheap, build it fast, build it to last one year (the standard warranty contract) and the more you get away with, the more profit you make. It's "big business" and professional advertising. Charge extra if you have to pull a permit, make the customer pay for government meddling.

Just as in big oil, the players learned long ago it was cheaper to buy corrupt government inspectors than it is to comply with all the regulations required by law.

America has spoken, "we want it fast, and we want it cheap", quality is a term no longer held in high esteem.

Been there, done that, totally disillusioned.

[Visionary Excellence]

10:55 AM on 02/16/2011

Do a web search for the 100 year lightbulb. Now THATS shocking. What have lightbulb companies been selling the public for 100+ years?

This solar story is a reminder that contractors can be iffy and machines need maintenance: not so shocking.

[Matthew Harrold]

08:53 AM on 02/16/2011

It's a simple thing to rectify. Over here in the UK you have to be a qualified electrician or gas engineer to be able to sign off jobs being completed to a satisfactory standard. It is then on that persons head that if anything should happen due to poor workmanship, that they are liable for any criminal or civilian court actions taken against them.

In short you make the people who do these jobs entirely responsible for letting bad jobs get signed off as being adequate. No one is going to let people get away with shoddy work once their arse is legally on the line for the work done.

[Egalitare]

04:59 AM on 02/16/2011

Quality control, standards, inspections - those inconvenient, labor-intensive components that erode profitability....

[JScott]

01:55 AM on 02/16/2011

And some of that stuff is made in China, ya know the place where the tainted pet food comes from
and the melamine mixed in baby formula.

[BlackbirdHighway]

07:53 PM on 02/15/2011

At least when a connection on a solar install goes bad, you just open the junction box, grab some wire strippers and fix it.

As opposed to a nuclear plant going bad, with the radiation spreading over several thousands of square miles, counties evacuated, towns relocated, thousands of farm animals slaughtered, etc.

[BigRex]

09:25 PM on 02/15/2011

Because that just happens oh so often....

[SolarPowerGuy]

03:23 PM on 02/16/2011

Yes, the catastrophic failure modes of large-scale power plants like nuclear generators are rare.

The problem is, those failures can affect thousands, even millions of people.

If something ever shorts out in my home solar power array (and I hope it doesn't, the contractor I hired had been in the business for 30 years), my neighbors will not be affected, only I will.

[aligatorhardt]

05:32 AM on 02/17/2011

With that kind of destruction, once is too much.

[Genders]

07:48 PM on 02/15/2011

Who needs regulations?

[JScott]

01:56 AM on 02/16/2011

As the pics show, self regulation doesn't seem to work, so much for the 'magic of the marketplace'.

[Genders]

04:29 PM on 02/16/2011

No kidding.