SAPC Best Practices in PV System Installation Version 1.0, March 2015 Period of Performance October 2014 – September 2015 C
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Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) Working Group Best Practices in PV System Installation Version 1.0, March 2015 NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC SAPC Best Practices in PV System Installation Version 1.0, March 2015 Period of Performance October 2014 – September 2015 C. Doyle IBTS, Dividend Solar Austin, Texas A. Truitt Acuity Power Group Denver, Colorado D. Inda Clean Power Finance San Francisco, California R. Lawrence North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners Clifton Park, New York R. Lockhart Acuity Power Group Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts M. Golden Efficiency.org, IBTS Sausalito, California NREL Technical Monitor: Michael Mendelsohn Prepared under Subcontract No. LGG-5-42199-01 NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Subcontract Report 15013 Denver West Parkway NREL/SR-6A20-63234 Golden, CO 80401 March 2015 303-275-3000 • www.nrel.gov Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308 This publication received minimal editorial review at NREL. NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. Available electronically at http://www.osti.gov/scitech Available for a processing fee to U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0062 phone: 865.576.8401 fax: 865.576.5728 email: mailto:[email protected] Available for sale to the public, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 phone: 800.553.6847 fax: 703.605.6900 email: [email protected] online ordering: http://www.ntis.gov/help/ordermethods.aspx Cover Photo from iStock 000014394248 NREL prints on paper that contains recycled content. Disclaimer The attached Best Practices document was developed through an industry-organizing process convened by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The process was open to a wide array of industry members to get a broad range of perspectives. The document represents the result of long discussions and negotiations on a variety of topic areas of interest to the participating stakeholders. The document does not reflect NREL’s or the U.S. Department of Energy’s endorsement of any activity or group of activities. Rather, the document is designed to provide a reasonable protocol associated with photovoltaics (PV) system installation supported by the industry stakeholder process in order to improve the energy and cash flow production capability of the PV generating assets in the field. iii This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the following contributors to this report. Contributors Johan Alfsen, Quick Mount PV Richard Lawrence, NABCEP Mark Berger, NextGrid Technologies Minh Le, U.S. Department of Energy Megan Birney, Wiser Capital Kimberlie Lenihan, NYSERDA Brian Brookman, Solar Energy Industries Jay Levin, Clean Energy Associates Association John Lochner, Locus Energy Joe Cain, DNV GL Robert Lockhart, Acuity Power Group John Dalton, Burnham Energy Len Loomans, Acuity Power Group Lyleen Dauz, Burnham Energy Rich Matsui, kWh Analytics Matt Denninger, Advanced Energy Michael Mendelsohn, NREL Industries Jack Meng, Fortune Energy Mike Dershowitz, ModSolar David Milner, NuGen Capital Dividend CJ Desantis, CounterPointe Energy Solar Solutions Emeline Minor, Kilowatt Financial Paul Detering, Redwood Insights West Owens, SolarCity Trevor D’Olier-Lees, Standard & Poor’s Rue Phillips, TRUE South Renewables Inc. Christopher Doyle, IBTS, Dividend Solar Brian Ray, Hellermann Tyton Wil Fluewelling, Clean Power Finance Travis Richardson, Sungevity Max Foltz, TRUE South Sydney Roberts, Southface Todd Fries, HellermannTyton Mehrad Saidi, SunSystem Technology Whit Fulton, Infinite Invention Laks Sampath, NRG Energy, Inc. Heath Galoway, Sungevity Jeffrey Schub, Coalition for Green Capital Matt Golden, Efficiency.org, IBTS Greg Sellers, Clean Power Finance David Hattis, Building Technology, Inc. Aashish Shahani, IBTS C. Todd Himle, Super Anchor Safety Shawn Shaw, Cadmus Ron Hooson, Solar Inspectors Hawaii Josh Sturtevant, Distributed Sun David Inda, Clean Power Finance Andrew Truitt, Acuity Power Group, Saul Inda, GAF Solar Dividend Solar Drew Johnson, Burnham Energy Don Warfield, NABCEP Nick Kasza, Distributed Sun Scott Weicht, Adolfson and Peterson TJ Keating, SunSpec Alliance Chase Weir, Distributed Sun Geoff Klise, Sandia National Laboratories Roger Williams, Sungevity Sarah Kurtz, NREL Peter Xu, PVAP Expo 2012 Calder Lamb, Dominion Energy Solutions iv This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. Reviewers Sam Brown, Mercatus Joe Cunningham, CentroSolar Ryan Hamilton, Energy Finance Strategies, LLC. Robert James, DNV GL Shawn Kerrigan, Locus Dan Loflin, Locus Michael Mittleman, MJM Energy Consulting Selya Price, Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority Sydney Roberts, SouthFace Benjamin Shih, Moody’s Chris Sommerfeld, Sunrun Jeff Spies, Quick Mount PV Josh Sturtevant, Distributed Sun Teresa W. Zhang, PhD, Leidos Ryan Zwilling, DNV GL v This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Solar Access to Public Capital and the Installation Subcommittee ............................................... 1 1.2 Purpose .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 How to Use This Document .......................................................................................................... 1 1.4 Guide Overview ............................................................................................................................ 1 2 Contractor Qualifications .................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Work History ................................................................................................................................. 2 2.2 Financial Transparency ................................................................................................................. 2 2.3 Health and Safety .......................................................................................................................... 3 2.4 Insurance ....................................................................................................................................... 3 2.5 Personnel Qualifications ............................................................................................................... 4 2.5.1 Contractor Site Supervisor Qualifications ........................................................................ 4 2.6 Trade Licenses ............................................................................................................................... 4 3 Provider Best Practices ....................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Defined Quality Management Plan ............................................................................................... 5 3.2 Usage Data .................................................................................................................................... 5 3.3 Site Data ........................................................................................................................................ 5 3.4 Solar Resource Measurement ........................................................................................................ 7 3.5 Production Estimate ...................................................................................................................... 8 3.5.1 Estimating Tools .............................................................................................................. 8 3.5.2 Solar