New Articles Proposed for the 2017 Edition of the NEC

A total of nine new Articles have been proposed for inclusion in the 2017 Edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC). Four of those Articles have achieved first revision status are now open for public comment. They include:

• Article 425, Fixed Resistance and Electrode Industrial Process Heating Equipment – As noted in the Scope of this proposed Article, “heating equipment shall include boilers, electrode boilers, duct heaters, strip heaters, immersion heaters, process air heaters, or other approved fixed electric equipment used for industrial process heating.”
• Article 691, Large-Scale Photovoltaic (PV) Electric Supply Stations – As noted in the Scope of this proposed Article, “Electric supply stations are locations containing the generating stations and substations, including their associated generator, storage battery, transformer, and switchgear areas.” These systems are “operated for the sole purpose of providing electric supply to the utility transmission or distribution system with a generating capacity of no less than 5,000kW.”
• Article 706, Energy Storage Systems – As noted in the Scope, this proposed Article “applies to all permanently installed energy storage systems (ESS) that may be stand-alone or interactive with other electric power production sources.”
• Article 712, DC Microgrids – As defined in Sec. 712.2, a “a direct current microgrid is a power distribution system consisting of one or more interconnected DC power sources, DC-DC converters, DC loads, and AC loads powered by DC-AC inverters. A DC microgrid is typically not directly connected to an AC primary source of electricity, but some DC microgrids interconnect via one or more DC-AC bidirectional converters or DC-AC inverters.”

You can review the First Draft Report of the 2017 NEC via the NFPA website. If you’re interested in submitting comments on any of the proposed changes, you can do so online through September 25.