The National Electric Code (NEC) section 690.110.12 for the mechanical execution of work states, “Electrical equipment shall be installed in a neat and workmanlike manner.” Believe it or not, this is the only current cable management standard for the solar industry in 2019. This is a very subjective definition that is open to liberal interpretation from job to job.
Traditionally, solar plants sell 100% of the energy they produce to utilities as it is generated. There is no storage; every watt sent to the grid is for immediate consumption. When the sun goes down, utilities fire up additional fossil fuel turbines to meet demand.
Complying with building codes and industry standards is a necessary part of data center construction, and this applies to cable-tray system design and implementation as well. While the most cost and labor efficient method to cable a data center is the use of a prefabricated cable tray management system, you can’t just bundle as many cables as you’d like and drop them into a run. There are specific rules that must be followed for tray fill capacities.
Building a solar plant is about efficiencies. We’ve come a long way in terms of solar panel technology, evolving from an expensive government-subsidized industry into a self-sustainable energy market sector. However, power generation is a thin margin game, so squeezing the most wattage out of every dollar spent on materials, labor and ongoing repairs is critical to driving profitability.
Whether you’re setting up an office network for a new building or upgrading your current one, there are multiple steps to take and processes to follow, often under tight deadlines.
In the digital age, everything runs at lightning speed, and 5G promises to push the envelope even further. This new generation of communications will mean faster streams of data, which in turn will drive demand for more data transfers, which will require more cables.
