NABCEP PVA Exam Flashcards
From Estrella's Handwritten Flash Card Handout, with a few edits. Thanks, Estrella!
Start Up Voltage
The lowest voltage at which a DC inverter will turn on (close the circuit and send power)
SOC
State Of Charge: How much energy remains in a battery
DOD
Depth Of Discharge
TOU
Time Of Use
TOD
Time Of Day
REC
Renewable Energy Certificates: The value of renewable energy equal to 1MWh = 1000 kWh = 1 REC
PPA
Power Purchase Agreement: Agreement between solar owner and purchaser to purchase power for a period of time, usually about 20 years.
RPS
Renewable Portfolio Standard: A government standard that a utility company must meet for how much renewable energy must be provided by the utility
FIT
Feed-In Tariff: Money paid by utility to solar provider by kWh
Distributed Generation
When electricity is produced in numerous locations as opposed to one power plant.
AHJ
Authority Having Jurisdiction: An organization that has (governmental) authority over a solar installation. City/County Inspectors, Fire Dept., etc, all have jurisdiction over different parts of the system.
NEM
Net Energy Metering: A billing method that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. (Gross production minus usage equals net usage)
PBI
Performance Based Incentive: The money paid to an energy producer or solar array owner based on kWh produced.
OSHA
Occupational Safety & Health Administration: Organization responsible for worker safety.
OCPD
Over-Current Protection Device: circuit breakers or fuses to stop too many amps.
LVD
Low Voltage Disconnect: A system that turn off power coming from a battery when its voltage is too low.
SI
International System of Units aka the Metric system of measurement
Giga = 1,000,000,000 or one billion
Mega = 1,000,000 or one million
Kilo = 1,000 or one thousand
Mille = 0.001 or one thousandth
Micro = 0.0000001 or one millionth
Nano = .0000000001 or one billionth
GEC
Grounding Electric Conductor: The green or bare copper conductor connecting all of the metal system components
GE
Grounding Electrode: Direct connection to ground, i.e., the rod or plate buried in the ground where the GEC is connected
FLA
Flooded Lead Acid Batteries: Batteries that require maintenance such as topping off with water.
DOA
Days Of Autonomy: how many days the batteries or storage system will power a building.
ROI
Return On Investment:
A measure of the profitability of an investment.
A simple equation to determine whether something will provide a good enough return to at least pay for itself, maybe more.
STC
Standard Test Conditions are the conditions under which all solar panels are tested;
1000 Watts per square meter, or 1000/Wm2
SIP
Structurally Insulated Panel:
A composite (2+ materials) building material with insulated foam sandwiched between two panels of wood or other material.
VRLA
Valve Regulated Lead Acid (Battery): A lead acid battery that has a one way valve to allow gas to escape, so that it doesn’t need service and can be installed in different orientations such as sideways, upside down, etc.
Polarity Check
Checking polarity to verify that positive and negative wires are correct before turning on an inverter.
Done during commissioning
Ungrounded System
A system where the negative wires/conductors are not connected to ground; no white wires, only black and red
Downstream Solar Business
A business that is closer to sales than manufacturing..????
Duty Cycle
The percentage of time that an appliance or device is operating.
A refrigerator has ~50% duty cycle, therefore it runs about 12 hours per per day.
Energy
Energy is a rate over time, like speed. It is equal to the power in Watts that is consumed or produced over the period of one hour.
E=P/W