Friday, July 27, 2007

A Solar Design Engineer?!

So this will be very quick, but about 5 hours ago, I accepted a position with the Solar Design Associates as a junior Electrical Engineer! Somehow, I was able to take my not-3-to-5 years of experience and convince them I can handle the job of a solar electrical engineer!
You might ask, what does a solar electrical engineer do? Well, so did I, until yesterday when I made a few calls just to figure out what to expect. Obviously, it ranges from company to company so I'll stick with the description they gave me today at SDA.
A solar electrical engineer does... EVERYTHING. Well, at times, it seemed that way. And of course, none of it was really taught in college, unless you count the little bit of CAD (which we learned on our own anyway) and basic electrical properties (volts, amps, watts... and short-circuits are bad--again we learned that last one on our own anyway).
Right, so first there's the siting. Someone wants a solar system and one of us has to go down there to take a look; we're trying to get a basic idea of what the place looks like, what it will accommodate and if there are any really obvious issues (shading from other buildings or trees, etc.)
Then we take all that data and draw it all up on CAD. Whooooosh! Magic! Well, this part will be one of my larger challenges as I haven't really used much CAD beyond drawing lines. Now they want me to draw pretty lines that people base building things on. Eek! We also need to design the solar array--where it goes, how it's arranged--physically and electrically. There are a lot of structural and aesthetics to consider--eh, I'll probably have to pass all of that off to the more experienced people.
Then there's the approval, by the utility, by the client, by the government. Eep! And I have to be there presumedly every step of the way, reassuring people that it won't blow up and kill someone. Which, hopefully it won't.
And finally, after everything has been approved, it's time to go make sure the installation is up to par. Thankfully, we contract this out, so you won't see me trying to lift a stack of panels to any roofs (I'm sure many of the clients will be happy about that). Well, almost finally, anyway. I suppose we also give them any technical support they may need later. Oh, and I almost forgot--I might have the opportunity to apply for solar incentives for them. I know, it may not sound exciting to you, but for me, after working with people who try to get governments and utilities to approve solar incentives, I think using incentives will make them happy.
Anyway, what I like about all of this is how diverse the tasks are. There certainly should be no boring parts. Now, if only I can find a place to live...

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