Years of experience
Gordon T. Allen
Annapolis,MD
Summary
Dedicated and outgoing professional with a passion for creating and implementing innovative, cost-effective renewable and sustainable energy strategies. Committed to the betterment of humanity through optimal sustainable approaches and related technologies. Possesses a strong aptitude for mechanical and electrical engineering, with a focus on project-oriented problem solving. Thrives in a team environment and is eager to learn, ensuring customer satisfaction and mission success.
Overview
7
7
Work History
Sr. Design Engineer
Solar Energy World
11.2022 - Current
- As Senior Design Engineer my duties include a thorough review of solar designs from our engineering team in comparison to our sales rep's original contract and preliminary design, to produce a polished final product our sales rep's can provide to our customer
- These duties include ensuring the correct model module, inverter, racking/attachment type and any other contract details are properly presented in the layout and any discrepancies in system size or estimated annual production are properly noted and relayed to the sales representative
- Part of my duties also include ensuring these layouts meet proper building and electrical code requirements for IRC/NFPA and NEC
- This includes determining if fire pathways are required by the county or township, and if so, are properly labeled and dimensioned, and checking roof area calculations for total roof area and solar array area are done correctly and properly labeled
- My final responsibility is to continuously organize and update a design status spreadsheet, while also updating a design engineer stat spread sheet to keep track of the engineer who designed it, and indicate what phase of the design these projects are currently in
Solar Design Engineer
Solar Energy World
10.2020 - 11.2022
- Day to day operations creating full permit plan sets include carefully reviewing site assessments and designing array layouts to match our sales rep's contracts as closely as possible while also determining if more efficient and productive options are available
- Designing 2D side elevation drawings showing the structure of the roof and the attachment method used for securing the foot to the roof decking while labeling all roof material and sizes of lumber comprising the structure
- Design footing plans to show an overhead view of the rail and roof attachments to truss or rafter systems
- Designing site plans to show an overall view of the array on the house plat while determining length of underground conduit run's and lengths of property boundaries
- Designing overhead view equipment location plans showing existing meter and panel, equipment being installed and number of disconnects used
- Designing 3 Line electrical drawings showing numbers of strings and inverters, grounding, and interconnection points via back-fed breaker or line side tap
- (String and load calculations as well as wire sizing calculations for commercial and certain residential jobs
- Extremely experienced using AutoCAD, Revit, Sunrun's BrightPath, Scanifly, Solmetric, Aurora Solar, PV Watts, Unirac Builder, Solar Edge Designer, Near Map, Google Earth, Google Sketchup and many more used daily or weekly
- Well-versed in NEC, IRC, NFPA IBC, and other permit and building codes as well as NABCEP best practices
- Comfortable sizing strings, inverters, breakers/disconnects, and fuse calculations, determining wire sizes and load calculations as well as pairing components
- Estimated over 60 Megawatts of residential and commercial systems designed to date
Solar Installation Technician
Sundance Power Systems
08.2019 - 03.2020
- Installation of photovoltaic systems using both micro-inverter technology and string inverter technology often integrated with generator and battery back-up technology
- Installation of Snapn-rack L feet on shingle roof's with flashing, raided rib metal roofs with s-5 feet, standing seem metal roof's with s-5 clamps and TPO roof's with chemcurb and solar stack attachments
- Stringing modules together with optimizers or micro-inverters, running trunk cables, creating jumpers and wiring transition boxes, combiner boxes and load centers or inverters
- (Estimated over 800 kW's of system install experience including two 230 kW commercial ballast racking systems
- Experience with battery installations for a combined total of 150 kW including sealed lead acid, Li-Po and Li-ion batteries
Education
B.S. - Sustainable Technology
Appalachian State University
A.A.S. - Sustainable Technology
Cape Fear Community College
Skills
- Photovoltaic System Design
- Electric vehicle systems design
- 3D modeling software
- Solar thermal installation
- Photovoltaic installation
- Waste water management solutions
- Storm water treatment systems
- Soil surveying methodologies
- Commercial energy use analysis
- Residential energy use analysis
- LEED ratings systems
- Blower door testing techniques
- Geothermal heat pump technologies
- Wind turbine technologies
- Micro-hydro turbine technologies
- Expert CAD proficiency
Relatedactivities
- Appalachian State Solar Vehicle Team, Mechanical and Electrical Team member, Played a major role in the Appalachian State Solar Vehicle Team, leading the mechanical team in designing the braking system as well as assisting the electrical team in designing the battery pack and Battery Management System.
- Tau Sigma Honor Society, Recruited to join and awarded membership for earning a GPA of 3.5 or higher as a first year transfer student.
- US Green Building Council (USGBC), Active member.
- North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA), Active member.
- Making Energy Work Conference, Volunteer, Guest Speaker
Skillsets
- Trained and experienced in applying industry best practices using concepts, tools and approaches to practical systems solutions.
- Photovoltaic System Design: Including array and inverter sizing, while complying to electric standards and building codes to complete photovoltaic systems and components (grid tied and battery back-up stand-alone systems).
- Electric vehicle systems design: including batteries, electrical and mechanical components, and aerodynamics.
- 3D modeling software including AUTOCAD, Revit, Scanifly, SunRun Solmetric, Solaredge Designer, Unirac Builder, Aurora Solar, Solid Works, Rem/Rate, RET Screen, and Google sketch-up.
- Solar thermal and photovoltaic installation.
- Waste water management solutions.
- Storm water treatment systems.
- Methodologies for surveying soils for land use.
- Commercial and residential energy use analysis.
- Utilization of all commercial and residential LEED ratings systems.
- Blower door testing techniques.
- Geothermal heat pump technologies.
- Wind and micro-hydro turbine technologies.
Timeline
Sr. Design Engineer
Solar Energy World
11.2022 - Current
Solar Design Engineer
Solar Energy World
10.2020 - 11.2022
Solar Installation Technician
Sundance Power Systems
08.2019 - 03.2020
A.A.S. - Sustainable Technology
Cape Fear Community College
B.S. - Sustainable Technology
Appalachian State University
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