As of December 2023, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) was predicting average annual growth of 14% in the solar industry over the next 5 years — with growth much stronger in 2024–2025 than in 2026–2028. And while they expect the residential solar market to decline by 12% in 2024, growth in commercial, community and especially utility-scale solar will more than offset it.
Building large solar farms for commercial, community or utility-scale projects involves a great deal more than installing the PV panels themselves. ABB Installation Products offers you innovative solutions for other areas of the solar farm — the BoS — from the DC combiner boxes and solar inverters to the substations/collection systems.
Consider these tips to help you increase both your profit margin and your customer satisfaction level in the growing solar market.
Quality connections in DC combiner boxes and inverters
Solar Builder Magazine’s “Ask an Expert” feature offering inverter manufacturers’ best troubleshooting advice includes many tips, including:
- Poorly or incompletely crimped wires
- Lack of integrity in the watertight seal
Rather than have to go back and troubleshoot problems like these later, it’s far more efficient to choose components that help you prevent them from happening in the first place.
- For high-quality wire terminations in both DC combiner boxes and inverters, Sta-Kon® wire terminals offer premium features to ensure reliable, low-resistance connections. They’re made of high-conductivity copper with corrosion-resistant plating, include marked stud and wire sizes, a long, chamfered barrel to help eliminate missed crimps, deep internal serrations for a larger contact area and selective annealing to leave the barrel soft for crimping while the tongue remains strong.
- Likewise, Color-Keyed® compression lugs set the standard for high-quality power connections in DC combiner boxes and inverters. The Color-Keyed brand pioneered the original color-coding system for foolproof matching of connector and crimp die and includes a wide range of manual, battery-powered and pneumatic-assisted compression tools for making UL listed connections that meet the most stringent UL and IEC Class A requirements.
- Where flexible cord enters the inverter, choose T&B® Fittings Ranger® cord connectors to help ensure a liquid-, dust- and oil-tight seal, as well as strain relief. They’re available in weather-stabilized nylon or stainless steel to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of the solar farm. Plus, they accept twice the cord range diameter of many similar cord fittings, so you can do more with fewer sizes to order and stock.
Long-lasting cable protection in the collection system or substation
The Solar Builder Magazine article, “How to Take the Pain out of Solar O&M,” specifically mentions the detrimental “effects of humid and salty air, critters and time” on every element of the solar farm. Meet this challenge head-on in the collection system or substation by choosing a conduit system that’s designed to offer long, reliable service life in tough environmental conditions.
ABB Installation Products offers you two options in this area:
- Ocal® PVC-coated rigid conduit and fittings
- T&B® Fittings Type 316 stainless steel rigid conduit and fittings
Both encompass a complete portfolio of conduit, couplings, elbows, conduit bodies and other innovative, high-performance fittings designed to help you save time and money on the jobsite, and both are designed to withstand harsh environmental conditions. The choice between PVC-coated and Type 316 stainless steel is typically based on budgetary considerations and the planned lifespan of the installation.