Grounding

There is hardly a more contentious subject than grounding.  Anybody who has ever tried to wade their way through Chapter 250 of the National Electric Code catches more than a glimpse of the complexity of this subject.

Beware of installers who treat grounding as an afterthought.

Going against the current, Redstone Renewable Energy makes grounding a first and foremost priority.  It is time-consuming and, yes, a certain amount of muscle and flexibility is needed to either pound ground rods into unforgiving soil or by crawling through tight spaces laying in ground wire.  Poor grounding can render a multi-thousand dollar solar investment useless if poor grounding oversight attracts a lightning strike or a high impedance grounding path blocks the system from tripping its own circuit breakers and fuses at the proper moment, thereby causing equipment damage or even worse: fires.

If your electrician thinks that ground rods prevent electrical shock, watch out, because this may be an indication that a novice is at hand using your installation as a practice ground for their un-proven theories.

In my three plus decades installing solar systems working with dozens of different companies, I have rarely found an equal passion for this subject yet it is foundational to any electrical installation.

All stationary systems require a short-as-possible path to earth ground in order to prevent lightning strikes, mitigate potential over-capacitance surges from the utility, and to allow for more efficient operation of equipment and appliances through the elimination of stray potential differences.  This part of the grounding is non-current carrying.

Apart from this is equipment grounding which is designed and calculated to allow the conduction of electrical current and includes no non-incidental contact with earth ground.  Its job is to connect every metal part to each other providing a low impedance ground fault current path to the transformer and back in order to trip above-ground circuit breakers and fuses in the event of faults and short circuits.

If a potential installer needs to read this twice in order to understand, again, buyer beware.

Equipment ground with return path to circuit breakers. Notice equipment grounding busbar on left separated from neutral bus bar on right.  A good practice is to have this done in all panels including the Main Service Panel where the neutral-to-ground bond is made.  --->

<--- Example of a properly sized and bonded earth ground with masonry wire attachments