Wire and cable management decisions can seem small, but they have both short- and long-term ramifications, from boosting installation efficiencies and cutting site-prep costs to reducing O&M burdens and improving a project’s levelized cost of energy (LCOE). We reached out to providers of wire and cable management systems for residentialRead More

Solar is the new “cash crop” for landowners who have had land for agricultural uses for generations, but now cannot yield traditional crops due to topsoil degradation. This type of site often consists of a few inches of topsoil below grade and afterwards a mix of shale rock, bedrock andRead More

We asked wire management and electrical component providers to tell us about their latest and greatest products (inverters will be broken out into their own Buyer’s Guide next month). Trends in eBOS components right now include AC combiners, above ground cable management and heavy-duty clamps. Check them all out below.Read More

SPI 2019 Preview | Booth 4234 With Snake Tray, there’s no need to de-rate cables. Solar Snake Max Cable Management for Utility Grade Installations maintains the proper cable separation required by NEC Article 310 electrical code and eliminates the need to de-rate cables which substantially saves on the cost ofRead More

We humans have a lot in common with wires. We are vessels of energy and information that need grounding for stability. When put in situations that best suit our skillsets, we thrive. We are also prone to getting tangled up, stuck in our own way. We can be fragile. WeRead More

1. Cross-mating Cross-mating, which refers to the plugging of connectors from different manufacturers (between modules to optimizers/microinverters, modules to field-connectors, optimizers to field connectors or field connectors to the BOS system) is one of the most common PV wiring mistakes. In fact, the EU-funded Solar Bankability Project’s Failure Modes andRead More

Snake Tray Solar Snake Max is Snake Tray’s new patented cable containment system for utility grade installations. The easy snap together elements allow for code compliant cable separation. Construction cycle times will be cut in half with this new approach to managing high voltage cables. Cables install with snap togetherRead More

Wires are good for two things: 1) Installing a kick-ass PV system 2) Tripping people up. To accomplish the first, you must avoid the second at all costs, which means implementing a sound wire management plan on projects of all sizes. Planning Just like the rest of the system, planningRead More

Advanced Racking (booth W1113) specializes in the design, manufacturing and sale of PV mounting systems for all types of roof tops and will be debuting a new solution at SPI — the Total Roof Platform (TRP) — that they say is the first system to standardize rooftop mounting hardware. TRPRead More

Utility-Grade Solar Snake Tray Solution The next generation of cable management for solar installations eliminates the need to trench cables. Snake Tray’s hand-bendable cable trays with integrated anchor points require no fasteners to attach to the Z or C purlin of any racking system. Different models can manage string cables,Read More