IAEI Treasure Coast Chapter Meeting

October 10, 2008

18 attendees

President Joe Ferreira called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm

A roll call of officers was taken

Secretary Vince Della Croce made a motion to accept the minutes of the August meeting as emailed. The motion was seconded and accepted.

Treasurer Tom Haldane reported the division was solvent.

David Bates from FPL gave a presentation on net metering which involves the installation of a renewable generation system and receiving full utility rates for excess generation. When a renewable generation system is installed, such as photovoltaic panels, FPL will replace their existing meter with a bidirectional meter to monitor excess energy from that source. They will then issue a credit for excess energy generated if applicable. FPL has multiple tiers associated with interconnection requirements. Tier 1 is up to a 10kw system, has no charge for application or bidirectional meter and does not require a disconnect switch. Tier 2 is over 10kw up to a 100kw system, has a $400 application fee, does require a disconnect switch and insurance. Tier3 is over 100kw up to a 2mw system, has a $1000 application fee, does require a disconnect switch and insurance. Additional information can be found at www.FPL.com/netmetering.

Old business:
*Low voltage permits are required on commercial projects in the City of Port Saint Lucie. Martin County does not require low voltage permits at this time.
*Martin County and the City of Port Saint Lucie are in the process of identifying and contacting contractors with open permits that have not had activity for more than 180 days. All were strongly reminded to attempt to deal with any of these issues if applicable.

New business:
*Vince Della Croce reminded all to report unlicensed work to the Building Dept. He also suggested in an effort to gain new members that phoning contractors in the area might draw new faces to the meeting. He would produce a phone list for the November meeting to be broken down and shared among several attendees to place calls.
*CEU classes were discussed and it was decided to have a code change seminar in early 2009. Vince would investigate further and have information at the next meeting.
*Code topics for meeting was discussed. It was decided that a particular code item should be isolated and discussed at each meeting. Next months issue will be 110.26
*Joe Ferreira addressed the issue of signed and sealed drawings from a question submitted prior to the meeting. He referenced the Florida Building Code which states that a residential service, 240 volt, 600 amps or more and a commercial service, 240 volt, 800 amps or more are required to be signed and sealed by an architect or engineer.

The meeting was adjourned at 6pm