Why Wire Management Is Still the Most Common Deficiency in Solar Installations

The solar industry has grown fast, and that growth comes with a tradeoff. Contractors are under pressure to hire quickly and get people productive on the job site before they’ve had all the training they need. The result shows up in the work, and nobody has seen it more clearly than someone who has reviewed thousands of installations from the field.

Janet Hughes has reviewed thousands of solar installations since 2013 as a quality assessment reviewer with IBTS, the Institute for Building Technology and Safety. What she’s seen in the field shapes everything she teaches in her course, Compliant Solar Array Wiring Bootcamp, now available on HeatSpring.

In this clip, Janet shares what surprised her most when she started reviewing installations and why wire management remains a persistent problem across the industry.

Transcript below

Janet

When I first started reviewing, it was actually pretty appalling. There were good installs, but there were some that were just so sloppy. The wire management was all over the roof. There was just no attention to detail and no effort to clean things up.

I basically think that people just didn’t know. They hadn’t had any background with doing systems like this. They may have had an electrical background, or maybe not. They were just trying to get it done and didn’t have the training necessary.

Now the installs are much more professional and cleaner. We still have issues with code deficiencies, and wire management is still a big issue, but it has, luckily, been cleaned up a lot.

Brit

You have created your course on HeatSpring – the Compliant Solar Array Wiring Bootcamp – and you mentioned it’s a deficiency you see somewhat often. Why do you think that is? Is it more a training gap, time pressure issue, or something else entirely?

Janet

I think the main reason it’s still a problem is that the industry has grown a whole lot and it’s happening at a very fast pace. Contractors are really pressured now, partly because the cost of systems has come down so much. They’re under a lot of pressure to get people hired quickly and get them up to speed and productive very fast.

They also have a time challenge of not having enough time to fully train people before they get them onto a project. So I think the main reason is that people are put out in the field before they’ve had all the proper training.