Solar Sam: Solar Energy Installation CompanySolar Sam is a tight-knit solar energy installation company based out of Columbia, Missouri. Their process spans from calculating potential savings to design, installation and system monitoring. Here, I summarize my responsibilities, work accomplished, and my reflection. Learn more about Solar Sam here: www.solarsam.com/
My ResponsibilitiesWorking in the field of solar energy installation was a tough but rewarding experience for me. For the summer of 2022, as a solar installer, production assistant, and apprentice electrician I learned the process of designing, installing and wiring a solar array for commercial and residential sites. This job required that I be prepared to problem solve in the case that something does not go to plan and working with such a responsibility reinforced my work ethic.
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Surveying future array sites
To calculate economic and power capability predictions, I gathered sun path data and integrated the data into a software, System Advisor Model (SAM, sam.nrel.gov/). As a side, this software is the inspiration behind the company name, Solar Sam. Sun path data can be collected in a number of ways, but the method that I became acquainted with is using an analog solar pathfinder tool. Gathering an image of this tool and importing it into the solar path finder software, we are able to calculate an estimated power capability of the given site.
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Installing solar arrays
As a member of the installation team, I followed careful steps to complete solar arrays with a time constraint set by my boss and company customers as stakeholders. Over the summer, I have had a major hand in providing solar power to 11 homes. The first stages of installation include all of the construction aspects where we get the roof or ground prepared with rails or mounting locations. This stage requires precise measurements such that the panels rest on the roof in a safe and aligned fashion. Once all of the raking is done, we were responsible for securing the optimizers or panel inverters in proper locations in accordance with the circuit schematic in the site's engineering plans. The last overarching responsibility for our installation crew is to connect the panels to each optimizer or panel inverter and secure the panel in place. This last step must be done in a methodical and attentive manner, so the array sits on the raking neatly.
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Solar repair
I led other workers on repair jobs where we had to identify and solve malfunctioning arrays with only a map of the array and a multimeter at times.
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There was a specific time where my crew member and I were sent to a home where the Inverter box connected to the solar array was stuck in night mode, which implies that it is not receiving as high of a voltage as expected from the array on the roof. The array we were working with is a double string array, meaning it is a system with 2 arrays that wire into the inverter box like batteries in parallel. I started my investigation of this issue by checking the voltage output of each array with a multimeter. One of the array's had reversed polarity, and the other was reading a tenth the amplitude it should. |
I knew that the only way we would be able to fix the issue was to get into the combiner boxes on the roof where the power cables from each array tie into the inverter cables. Using only a map of the array's wiring and my circuit analysis skills from E&M and electronics class, I was able to rewire the arrays properly and leave the residential location having fixed the issue causing a malfunctioning inverter.
Electrical work
When working with the master electricians, I mapped out solar array circuits, installed electric vehicle chargers, integrated inverters and combiner boxes. After working under the supervision of our master electricians, I earned my apprentice electrician license. As a physics student who has taken courses like electricity and magnetism and electronics, I understood the purpose behind each component we were required to install in order for the array to function properly. The aspect of doing electrical work in a professional environment that I had to learn the most about is the code requirements that pertain to each situation. There is a lot of safety protocols that must be followed to ensure a safe addition to one's home electrical system. Through working with the master electricians at Solar Sam, I was able to exercise my ability to be detail-oriented to complete a job correctly, safely, and quickly.
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