Latest / Clean Power Hour / The Critical Role of Field Service in Solar: Insights from CPS America’s David Huebsch | EP256

Transcript

The Critical Role of Field Service in Solar: Insights from CPS America’s David Huebsch | EP256 · Clean Power Hour

• 0:50
  David Huebsch: I don't mind it.
• 0:50
  David Huebsch: I don't that the customers really want to rely on me, and if I can be there to help them out, the bottom line is helping our customers can, and if I have to make myself available for them, sure they call me Saturday, call me Sunday. I'll take their calls. You know, I'm happy to help them. It makes their job easier, especially if they if I can provide them a basic understanding and maybe, maybe it helps them. Are
• 1:17
  intro: you speeding the energy transition here at the Clean Power Hour, our host, Tim Montague, bring you the best in solar, batteries and clean technologies every week. Want to go deeper into decarbonization.
• 1:27
  intro: We do too. We're here to help you understand and command the commercial, residential and utility, solar, wind and storage industries. So let's get to it together. We can speed the energy transition
• 1:42
  Tim Montague: today on the Clean Power Hour field service in the solar industry. My guest today is David hitch. He is a field service engineer and manager for CPS America in the central region. Welcome to the show.
• 1:54
  Tim Montague: David,
• 1:56
  David Huebsch: thanks for having me. Tim,
• 1:59
  Tim Montague: excited to have you on the show and learn more about your work here in the Midwest. I live in central Illinois, and as our listeners know, we have a burgeoning community and utility scale solar industry here in the Midwest and across the country.
• 2:18
  Tim Montague: It is a geographic thing, right?
• 2:22
  Tim Montague: Some states have more solar than others. Texas has surpassed California. But anyway, David, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and how you came to CPS.
• 2:33
  David Huebsch: Hey. Thanks, Tim, yes. So I started off one day, deciding to have a change in careers, and I jumped into renewable energy. I started with wind turbine technician, and I did that for several years, and then you mean, like climbing the tower. Yeah, at every opportunity I got, I would climb. Yes, wow,
• 2:59
  Tim Montague: that takes some cojones.
• 3:02
  David Huebsch: Yeah, I was pretty I was I had some nicknames to myself when I first started, because I I was afraid of heights. Yes, it's something that you know heights, you either can get used to it, or you don't get used to it. And so I had some nicknames, but I got used to it. And so that kind of helped me gear my transition into solar, which it's kind of the same background?
• 3:33
  Tim Montague: Well, pretty different, I would have to say.
• 3:36
  Tim Montague: I mean, they're both clean energy. But, you know, climbing a wind tower is not the same as working on an inverter on a rack. But how did you get interested in the solar industry? What was the entree
• 3:49
  David Huebsch: just I think I was at that point in my life where, yes, climbing was kind of got to my my my body and and was was pretty, you know, at my age, it was pretty intense. And so I decided to maybe switched and try to keep my feet on the on the ground a little bit more.
• 4:09
  David Huebsch: So,
• 4:11
  Tim Montague: yeah, I have heard that that it's, it's quite physically demanding, and so doing Wind Turbine Technician work is, I think, a younger man's sport. But how long have you, how long have you been in solar now?
• 4:25
  David Huebsch: Um, I've just, I think on Thursday, it will be my seven years. Oh, cool. So I started with the CPS, January 9 and 2018
• 4:39
  Tim Montague: Gotcha. And so tell, tell us a little bit about that journey. Like, what kind of Yeah, what? What has that journey been like for you? Oh,
• 4:49
  David Huebsch: man, it's been.
• 4:49
  David Huebsch: It's been, it's been phenomenal.
• 4:53
  David Huebsch: I, I do have to say it was a little I came from a wind, wind energy company, and just just a regiment of of being, you know, on top of things, and always go, go, go, go, and and coming to CPS. It was way relaxed. And it it really, it made me more comfortable coming into CPS, the management that was really awesome to work with, people that are more easy going and just just, you know, trying to do the best you can do, instead of always trying to push you so it was, it was really a blessing for me. That's
• 5:40
  Tim Montague: so cool. So you came to CPS when Brian Wagner was still in business development, right?
• 5:48
  David Huebsch: Yeah, Brian Wagner was one. Of our salespeople and I, I had a very when I first got hired with CPS, I had a very lengthy conversation with Brian. It was and it really, he made me at ease more about, you know, transitioning into CPS, it was really great.
• 6:10
  Tim Montague: So was there, was there a steep learning curve, though, or did you already know about power electronics?
• 6:16
  David Huebsch: I, I, I did. I have an education. I have a a Applied Science degree from Iowa Lakes. And so I did take some power electronics courses. In there, a lot of electrical courses. So it kind of, I, that's my background. So I was, I felt poorly comfortable coming into CPS, yeah,
• 6:40
  Tim Montague: what is the hardest part? I'm just curious.
• 6:43
  Tim Montague: There's, you know, wind turbine technicians is, is also a very fast growing job. Solar installer and wind turbine technician are two of the fastest growing jobs in America.
• 6:52
  Tim Montague: But if a wind turbine technician were listening to this, what's the hardest part of making the transition to solar from wind,
• 7:00
  David Huebsch: I guess, on a day to day basis, dealing, you know, being making yourself available for your customers, I think that's that was a kind of a transition challenge for me, per se, than just my knowledge of, you know, renewable energy, but just because with with the wind energy, you know, my customer was just basically the the company, right? But with solar, now you have, yes, the CPS Company, but you also have a lot of customers that you know call you on a daily basis. You get to know and you have to have a positive report with from your customers, and so you have to, like to take care of them. So I think that was probably one of my biggest challenges.
• 7:48
  Tim Montague: So you're, you're, you're dealing more with customers directly than you were in the turbine industry. Oh, 100% Yeah, absolutely more.
• 7:55
  Tim Montague: Gotcha. Yeah, that's not, that's not for everyone. If you're just used to turning a wrench, so to speak, and then all of a sudden you have to have some soft skills also, yes, that's a different matter. And you know, you're the problem solver, right? People are calling you when they have a problem. So it's, it's not always a happy conversation, I would imagine.
• 8:18
  Tim Montague: But tell our tell our listeners, what exactly do you do? What is your daily work entail, huh?
• 8:28
  David Huebsch: So a lot of times start up the morning I, you know, I have a schedule I keep.
• 8:31
  David Huebsch: I have several customers in my area that I do. Go out and do field service work. I do repairs, we do commissioning, you know, so I have to have a keep a pretty tight schedule on that and and knowing where I'm going and travel times and stuff like that. Also, you know, answering phone calls, I guess, for customers, I take, took a couple calls, calls this morning already. So it's, it's, I guess you really have to be kind of flexible, too, and and that it's, you know, your customers call I knew you really should, you know, pay attention to your customers and and if they've got a questions, you need to kind of stop what you're doing and and focus your your you know what you're doing on them and try to resolve their issues. Yeah,
• 9:26
  Tim Montague: you touched on something early on about the culture at CPS. It is a surprisingly laid back culture.
• 9:34
  Tim Montague: It's very friendly, it's very familial, like, oh
• 9:38
  David Huebsch: yeah, I wouldn't say we're laid back. By no means, I think because of the industry and how, like you said, you know, we're over 100 employees. I think when I started, we had less than 50 employees. And so just in that seven years, we have doubled our employees. And so I think, I think a lot of us are, are, I wouldn't say, struggling, but I think a challenge is trying to, trying to keep up with everything. And it's, it's a bit, yeah, well,
• 10:13
  Tim Montague: there's a constant evolution of the products. The product line is expanding, right? Yeah, I think
• 10:18
  David Huebsch: we've got three new product out there right now.
• 10:21
  David Huebsch: It's a detachable 250 kilowatt inverter. It's got a separable wire box, yeah? I mean, that's, that's great,
• 10:30
  Tim Montague: yeah, there was a lot of talk about that 250, 600 volt product this year. And I, because I'm not an engineer, I don't really understand why that's such a big deal. I know that standard solar is super thrilled about it, and they were involved in, you know, helping to develop the product. But could you. Quick compare and contrast the 600 volt, the new product with the detachable wire box, versus the 800 volt product. Well,
• 10:59
  David Huebsch: yeah, the, you know, the with the 800 volt, 250 you basically that inverter is all entailed, all itself. So all your wiring, all your ACS connections are, are just in the inverter. So when it comes down to like a replacement standard or replacement part, you have to kind of replace the whole inverter. Now with this, the 250 600 volt obviously it's a 600 volt system, yeah. But you also have a detachable wire box. So with the detachable wire box, and you're just replacing the power head, the service part of it becomes tremendously less, less time involved. So that's basically as far as the standard, as far as, you know, is what you're looking at, you know, serviceability and what your technicians have the time for the separable wire boxes. It saves you a ton of time.
• 12:02
  Tim Montague: Got it sounds lovely. So there are kind of three things I think, that you're dealing with on a daily basis. You're dealing with the technology, the inverters, mostly, and you know the communication systems that make it talk. You're dealing with your customers, and you're dealing with the team at CPS, right? It's it takes a team to deliver the goods, so to speak.
• 12:27
  Tim Montague: But tell us, what were you going to say?
• 12:33
  David Huebsch: I said, Yeah, I the team that we have is our service team is phenomenal to work with. Everyone is, I can call anyone, and they pick up the phone right now, right away, and they're, they're able to help me, and vice versa. You know, they call me. I'm there for them. I pick up the phone when we discuss, you know, search and such situations, and sometimes it does leave us scratching our head, but we we always try to work together and try to solve, you know, what the what the issues are,
• 13:05
  Tim Montague: and you know, as far as as far as servicing your customer, there's a couple different scenarios you mentioned. You know, you're commissioning new projects, you're doing repairs. And sometimes repair, I'm sure, can be done remotely. Sometimes it's just a matter of doing a software update, and then sometimes you have to replace parts in the field. And I would imagine that you're supporting many other individuals who are doing some of this work in the field as well. Right? Other technicians, both for CPS, but also for just O and M companies, right?
• 13:44
  David Huebsch: Oh, absolutely. I would say the majority of my calls are from field technicians who we do have a hotline that they can call in. But sometimes, if they're in a dire need, or if I have a really good report, like I have some really good customers that I can, you know, they call me and they can, I can say, Hey, how you been Hey, it's good to see you. And it's, it's, it's that report that I like to get to with my customers. So
• 14:13
  Tim Montague: what? I guess I would love to paint a picture for our listeners about this life that you lead and what it is that you ultimately are doing. I mean, you're a problem solver, you're an Answer Man, you're an expert and but it's a little hard unless you're a field service technician, you know, or an installer or an electrician you know, to really understand what's going on here.
• 14:45
  Tim Montague: So walk us through a problem solution, or a couple of problems and solutions that you're dealing with on a regular basis, if you would. So,
• 15:00
  David Huebsch: yeah, I think you brought up one thing earlier about communications. And yeah, I think, I think communications is probably, probably hands down, probably the, probably one of the most common things and probably the toughest thing to troubleshoot. I would say it's really tough to troubleshoot, but it takes if you're not there, troubleshooting with them it. It kind of makes it a little difficult to see what actually is all going on with the, you know, the communications part.
• 15:34
  David Huebsch: There's so many variables that could cause, you know, communication breakdown, but faults on the inverter, hard faults, you know, if I have to go out there and, you know, I have one customer that we have a flux scale. Way product, and they have flex gateways at pretty much all their sites. And so I have one customer, and that will email me say, Dave, we got a down inverter. Can you take a look at it? Ted, you know that?
• 16:02
  David Huebsch: Let me know that the site. And yeah, I can go on our CPS portal, our flex gateway, and look into it and say, yeah, oh, I can see what's going on with it, let me try to repair that remotely. If I can't repair that remotely, I will make a site visit and prepare it at the site so, so that's, that's one of them. I mean, the flex gateway really helps us out a lot to see what's going on and and it really makes my job a lot
• 16:26
  Tim Montague: The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS easier.
• 16:30
  Tim Montague: America, maker of North America's number one three phase string inverter with over eight gigawatts shipped in the US. The CPS product lineup includes string inverters ranging from 25 kW to 350 kW, their flagship inverter, the CPS 350 KW is designed to work with solar plants ranging from two megawatts to two gigawatts. CPS is the world's most bankable inverter brand, and is America's number one choice for solar plants, now offering solutions for commercial utility ESS and Balance of System Requirements, go to chintpowersystems.com or call 855-584-7168, to find out more, I'm curious, how do you identify the inverter? Like they give you a site name, you know, the customer. I'm just curious, like, how long does it take to drill down inside the gateway system to find the inverter.
• 17:32
  David Huebsch: Well, you got, we have several, several ways that we can drill down. We have, you know, if you have the flux gateway serial number, you have the inverter serial number, you have the site name, but usually the inverter serial number, if it's on the flex gateway, is the best way, because I can go right to that inverter and take a look at it and say, oh yeah. So I'll let me see what I can do, but very quickly, within within a minute, how's that? So that's cool.
• 18:02
  Tim Montague: Yeah. And you mentioned communications. What are some common issues that cause communications to fail on a site.
• 18:12
  David Huebsch: So we in some scenarios, I think a lot of people don't understand that with Rs, most of the sites are using RS 45 and you know, those are those communication systems are low voltage and so, and it doesn't take much low voltage or surge in the voltage to take out different communication cards or or maybe take out your data logger, or maybe take out your your surge protection, and your and your Rs 45 line that you have trying to figure out where, where your issue Lies, as far as communication, is the whole site down? Is it just an inverter down, or is it just a group of inverters down? You know, that's basically how you kind of you have to go through and try to figure out, you know, where, where the problem might be, or where to start looking for your problem. Have
• 19:08
  Tim Montague: you done field service for any other companies in the solar industry, not for the solar industries? No, right?
• 19:15
  Tim Montague: How does the customer know when they need to escalate a problem?
• 19:21
  Tim Montague: And is there tension there at all? I'm just curious. Like, do I could see how when, when customers get to know you, they realize like, Oh, he's really easy to work with. He takes my call, he solves my problem. It might be tempting for them to over rely on you. Does that happen?
• 19:43
  David Huebsch: Sure. I guess it can happen. I don't mind it. I don't that the customers really want to rely on me, and if I can be there to help them out, the bottom line is helping our customers can and if I have to make myself available for them, sure they call me Saturday. Call me Sunday. I'll take their calls. You know, I'm happy to help them. It makes their job easier, especially if they if I can provide them a basic understanding. And maybe, maybe it helps them. Also, when
• 20:14
  Tim Montague: a site is being commissioned for the first time, walk us through what is happening and what are the possible challenges that have to be overcome. So
• 20:31
  David Huebsch: when a site gets commissioned, basically, we're basically turning the inverters on for the first time. So they need to be initialized. We need to know, you know, what kind of grid code they're offering, what kind of connection rule, you know, our. S 45 and sometimes it might be power line communications PLC, too. And so we all need to know that stuff up in front and where we're starting, certain these inverters up and and getting them all ready for communications. And to start, start, to know to have the site being turned on so and producing power. So
• 21:14
  Tim Montague: can a customer do a commissioning? Let's say it's a community solar project.
• 21:17
  Tim Montague: There's, you know, 15 to 30 inverters on a, on a, on an array. Can Can a customer complete that completely independently of CPS, or are they always going to need support during that process. No.
• 21:35
  David Huebsch: So they can do this independently, which, if they, yeah, they can do it independently. Absolutely. They don't need us there. They do call us if anything arises. So it's, it's what you what you want to pay for. I guess, cool.
• 21:56
  Tim Montague: Well, what else would you like my listeners to know about the field service operation at CPS
• 22:05
  David Huebsch: and so, yeah, that's a, you know, that's a really good topic that I really would like to discuss. I mean, our service team is second to none. If you look at the there are managers the you know, our East Coast, West Coast, me, we have a field service technician that's been there from day one, but CPS 13 plus years. And so you'll find that our qualifications, as far as a service team is, is, is great.
• 23:33
  David Huebsch: It's a best in the industry. We have a lot of and the brook row in quite a bit too. So we have a few new technicians that were taken underneath are weighing and showing them the ropes, and then so we, I guess we really service. I think I myself, I really take pride in service and being in there for my customers.
• 23:59
  David Huebsch: So I think that's, that's one thing that you can look at CPS and get to know your, you know, your field technicians, or you know, that's what I would suggest a company doing, get to know your field technicians and get a get a good report with them and and because you establish that, and then, you know, you basically have a Customer and a friend for life.
• 24:23
  Tim Montague: Are there times when you're confounded? I heard a horror story from an installer who was trying to get, and I don't know who the who the inverter manufacturer was, but they were trying to get a project commissioned, and they were getting some fault and the manufacturer kind of threw up their hands, the utility had thrown up their hands, and the and the installer, which was the developer, was really caught in the middle. But do you run into instances where there really is an impasse?
• 25:00
  David Huebsch: Um, yeah, it there can be, and especially in the Midwest, where I'm at, a local utility here requires, I'm sure everyone heard in a loss of Phase testing and witness testing. And so we have customers that, you know, they do, they do want to do everything themselves, which is great, and then they, they have come down to the witness testing and trying to do, trying to resolve this with the utility and it's and if they don't, one thing I do like to tell my customers out there, if you are an APC or a build developer and you're You're going to have a witness test. Let us know. Just give us give us a heads up. Give us a call, give us an email, you know, send it out to us and let it hey, we're going to have a witness test. Is there's anyone there that can help us so we can resolve your issues and be be available to do that. Sometimes we might have to go on site and check it out.
• 26:04
  Tim Montague: The expression witness test implies that the utility is going to be on site.
• 26:10
  David Huebsch: Correct? Yes, utility is on site when they're doing the witness test. No, I would say, would say they always are on site, but there is somebody representing the utility when you are doing the witness test.
• 26:25
  Tim Montague: So let's just circle back a little bit on on getting a project commissioned and completely operational. You know you're you're completing construction, right? So the installation is complete, the inverter is wired, and it's just a matter. Of getting permission to operate and, and so then you're getting that PTO, as it's called from the utility. Utility says Yes, after, after, what has accomplished? What is their checklist like?
• 27:00
  David Huebsch: So when the inverters, so when they get PTO permission to operate, then you know, the utility will say, okay, you can run it for five days. You can run it for these hours. And we can see, because the utility wants to see, how it reflects on their grid as well.
• 27:18
  David Huebsch: And so, you know, they they give them permission to operate for a certain amount of time during so many hours. A lot of times you can't leave them on over the weekend. Lot of times you can't leave the site running when you leave so but we basically are trying to see if there's any anything out of specs, as far as what, what they're expecting operation is supposed to be. You know, they have certain outcomes. They have certain requirements, as far as kilowatts that they produce. And so if there's something there that the utility doesn't like, or what the builder, developer doesn't like, you know, they're, they're definitely gonna see that and and stop and ask us questions. What's going on here?
• 28:12
  David Huebsch: What's, what's wrong with this?
• 28:12
  David Huebsch: So,
• 28:14
  Tim Montague: so there, there are gradations though, of permission to operate, like there's a because eventually there's some permanent okay, you can flip the switch and you're good to go. But that's like a phased approach.
• 28:29
  David Huebsch: Yes, I would, I would say that I think that all any, any kind of utility or developer, they are going to give you permission to operate the length, I don't know, you know, it all depends on per site. You know what? You know you might have 100 megawatt site, and they may only want you to turn 10 megawatts on at a time. So you know that that may affect of you know how much time you have to operate. You know, permission to operate too. So, but the utility usually give you an opportunity to do that.
• 29:05
  Tim Montague: Gotcha, well, I don't know what I don't know.
• 29:10
  Tim Montague: David, so you need to help me out here. Like, what should customers, okay, buyers of CPS, inverters. What should they know that they may not know today when it comes to service.
• 29:27
  David Huebsch: Well, I think that. I think expectations are very high when you buy a product from a from a company, I think that their expectations as far as who they're who they're going to call you know, are they gonna have maintenance free inverters?
• 29:51
  David Huebsch: What kind of I guess, I guess just having the support, I think they underestimate, you know, the amount of support sometimes that is needed for inverters and inverters company, and when they're starting to site up and and because they're, there's always, I wouldn't say always, but there's, there's different issues on different sites. No, there's not always the same issue at the same at at that all these sites. So there being a, having a customer support team that CPS, like CPS has, I think is, is very crucial. And I think that's, that's one of if you're developing a site and you you have poor support with your customer, with the your inverse, your bot, that might, that might be a challenge. Oh,
• 30:46
  Tim Montague: for sure, I would argue that service is one of the greatest differentiators in the solar industries right now. You know, we have a lot of good technology out there, quite mature technology landscape, but it's very much apples and oranges in terms of the service you're going to get. You mentioned high expectations. And of course, we humans. We love our technology, but we also want it to just work, right? We want to take it out of the box, hook it up and turn it on, and we want everything to work. But I think you're saying that we should expect there to be some interaction, you know, and because the way things change, right, every product has, you know, some slight difference.
• 31:36
  Tim Montague: There's a slightly different software, the installation, my.
• 31:40
  Tim Montague: It be slightly different.
• 31:44
  Tim Montague: There's a different installer.
• 31:44
  Tim Montague: And I'm curious if you see problems with installation methodology or quality that are relevant here. Oh
• 31:55
  David Huebsch: yes, absolutely.
• 31:55
  David Huebsch: I think. I think it happens. I don't really think that it happens a great deal, but it does. There is some quality issues, as far as you know, how the inverters are installed, and you know, securely to the and a lot of people. There's another thing too, that lot of people, lot of developers, are kind of underestimating the weight and the security of of what the inverters needs to be the wiring. And so there is some issues on that part. We try to teach them. We try to, you know, point out, hey, you know, if we do it this way, it might be a better way. You know, less you may have less problems in the field, and so it'd be just like wind turbines. You know, going back to that, there's tremendous amount of vibration in the wind turbine, you know, you you don't actually see the vibration, but making sure that your connections are solid, having ferals on the end of your wires, stuff like that, where the where the wires don't loosen up, and it's a it's a great deal. I mean, that's a big, big thing.
• 33:13
  David Huebsch: If you can identify the problems ahead of time and teach them and show them that this might be a better way to do things. I think the developers, the builders, I think they take note of that
• 33:27
  Tim Montague: for sure, for sure. Well, in our last few minutes together, David, we have a big event coming up for Chint, known as Product Innovation Day.
• 33:35
  Tim Montague: It's April 2 in Dallas, Texas.
• 33:40
  Tim Montague: We'll put a link in the show notes. And we're, you know, talking about this with CPS employees, including Brian Wagner, the President, and your customers. But what do you look forward to most about Product Innovation Day in Dallas, which is a the core of it is a one day mini conference for customers of CPS. It's a couple of days event, but so you get to rub shoulders with CPS, the whole team. You get some behind the scenes information about upcoming product releases, and you get to meet a bunch of other really awesome solar professionals. But what is it that you look forward to? And what do you tell people why they should consider going to Dallas on April 2? You
• 34:35
  David Huebsch: know what I really enjoy? I really enjoy if some of our sales department, they say, I just landed a new account, and getting to meet those new those new guys in that account, and and being able to, yeah, they're, they're going to be in your neck of the woods.
• 34:49
  David Huebsch: And I think that it is, it is awesome to meet those people.
• 34:55
  David Huebsch: And so I think that getting to know them and saying, Yeah, I can work with your team, and here's my number and and just just the amount of people is, it's, it's grown so, so much in a few years. This, I think this is our third 1/3, fourth, I think fourth, but not fourth ones. But wow, what a tremendous if you're not on the list and to go, I think you should get on the list to go. And I know space, I'm not sure if we have limited space, but man, if you get on the list to go, go and meet the Chint people, meet the service people, meet the engineering department, you know, meet Fabiola, meet James Whipple, all those guys, and what a I mean, you have a tremendous amount of people with customer support and get to know those guys. They're going to be your friends. That's what I enjoy.
• 35:55
  Tim Montague: Thank you. David, well, check out all of our content at cleanpowerhour.com Please give us a rating and a review on Apple or Spotify. Tell a friend about the show and reach out to me on LinkedIn. I love to hear from my listeners.
• 36:11
  Tim Montague: I'm easy to find on LinkedIn. Or you can contact me through the website, cleanpowerhour.com, David hips, field service, engineer and manager central region. How can our listeners find you? Up.
• 36:23
  David Huebsch: They can go to our website, chimp power North America. You can look at our team. You'll see a picture of me there. You can email me at David dot huge. Last name spelled out and at chintpowersystems.com be glad to help you out.
• 36:41
  Tim Montague: Awesome. You. Well again. Thank you so much. David.
• 36:44
  Tim Montague: I'm Tim Montague, let's grow solar and storage. Take care.
• 36:47
  Tim Montague: Thank you, Tim. You.