U.S. Energy

To prepare for widespread use of distributed PV systems on the utility grid, DOE's Sandia National Laboratories asked SDA to create a benchmark document defining all the engineering and code issues related to the interconnection and operation of PV systems with the utility grid. In addition to examining these issues from the utility engineer's perspective, SDA engineers worked with code officials and standards agencies to address compliance issues with the National Electrical Code (NEC) as well as standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL), among others. The resulting document, "The Interconnection of Photovoltaic Power Systems with the Utility Grid," is being used to help establish uniform interconnection guidelines for distributed PV systems.