ABSTRACT
At the Solar Battle of the Bands in San Francisco in 2018, during the last San Francisco Intersolar Conference, there was a band that called themselves the “Rapid Shutdowns” and was sponsored by Luminalt. The rapid shutdown requirements of the National Electrical Code (NEC) first appeared in the 2014 NEC and have changed quite a bit in the subsequent versions. Photovoltaic systems in or on buildings shall have a rapid shutdown function system to reduce shock hazards for firefighters. The service disconnecting means can be the rapid shutdown initiation device. This is an easy option, plus it shuts everything else down with one switch. Many rapid shutdown systems shut down whenever the utility shuts down. For systems with backup, there needs to be a way to initiate rapid shutdown independent of utility outages. When in the off position, the rapid shutdown initiation device shall indicate that rapid shutdown has been initiated.
