I don't see what the big difference would be between residential and commercial.
Commercial electrical systems often have parallel sets of service conductors where IPCs are not an option for interconnecting PV systems on the line side. If Polaris blocks are no longer allowed, however, then that will be a problem for many supply side interconnected commercial PV systems as well as for services with multiple service disconnects.
Right, so not much difference from residential, in most cases.
To my understanding, basically any free floating electrical connector for splicing two or more power wires, which relies on mechanical pressure to maintain the electrical connection. Which is to say, anything that's been allowed for the last few decades since soldering was prohibited.
Any connection neither soldered (hard or soft) nor welded, of course. That's only a little in jest.
Is this defined anywhere? Say I buy a bussed gutter to install on the line side of the service disconnect to split the service conductors into two sets or make a line side connection. These usually just have bus bars and no lugs supplied. Do the lugs I bolt on have to meet this requirement?
Yes, lugs are pressure connectors.
Apparently you should be looking for listed 'power distribution blocks' (technical term for bussed gutter?) marked for use on the line side, which apparently may actually exist.
Right, except that for most of the commercial services I encounter, multiple sets of service conductors are used, so IPCs are not an option.
The issue is far from limited to IPCs. I almost never used IPCs in residential anyway, since I don't like them and turning off power is less of an issue.
I get that, but the topic of the OP is IPC connectors. We have used IPCs where they are allowed for many years with no issues. In some jurisdictions a residential utility shutdown is a pretty big deal, bureaucratically speaking.
So does a panelboard that comes with main lugs have to have those lugs listed as suitable for use on the line side of the service if used that way? OR a CT cabinet mounting bae? In other words I think with this topic most of us are thinking of making "taps" on existing services, but I guess anything now that has a lug, whether it is factory mounted on equipment needs this classification?
That’s a ridiculous even laughable aphorism.
Sometimes the code has to drive the product standards...putting a code rule in to require something that is not covered by an existing product standard requires the standard writing organization to write a new standard. The only issue is that writing a standard and getting product into the supply chain often takes at least two code cycles.
I think most of us are skeptical the code panel actually saw a need, as opposed to speculated without evidence that there might be a need. The public inputs and comments suggest as much.
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Wonderful. A brother designer with another company called me a little ago after he talked with an inspector. The inspector said to him, "I guess you guys won't be doing any more line side PV connections in my territory for a while."
