Nobody likes to talk about rooftop solar fires but solar safety is vital for the growth of our industry. In fact, the risk of an electrical fire from your solar array is very small - certainly a fraction of a percent. But more and better safety is always good which is why we are excited to bring you Jing Tian, Chief Growth Officer for Tigo Energy on today’s show.
Rapid shutdown really came into force in the US in 2017 and this forced installers and developers to begin adopting module level power electronics (MLPE) which are a safety shutoff for solar PV systems. Rapid shutdown refers to the ability of the array to shut itself down, and stop producing voltage, when the grid goes down or there is some other warning signal from the array (perhaps a short, other hazardous trigger). This makes the solar facility safe for first responders who might be working on the grid and it can reduce small problems from becoming catastrophes. Tigo Energy is a power electronics company with innovative solutions to enhance safety via rapid shutdown devices.
Our guest today is Jing Tian, the Chief Growth Officer for Tigo Energy. She has over 20 years of technical and business experience working with companies like Credence, Solfocus, Shift Energy and Trina Solar. Prior to joining Tigo Energy she spent over a decade working with solar equipment manufacturers across the industry. On this episode of the Clean Power Hour Jing joins Tim Montague to discuss what rapid shutdown is, how it works, and why it is important and much more.
Key Takeaways
1. Why and how did she get into the solar industry?
2. Solar companies she has been part of and her experience there
3. What is rapid shutdown, how does it work and why is it important?
4. What triggers Rapid Shutdown and what is cross-talk?
5. Tigo Energy’s rapid shutdown solutions.
