Introduction

The following Best Practices in Commercial and Industrial (C&I) PV System Installation Guide is one of several work products developed by the Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group. SAPC worked from 2012 to 2015 to open capital market investment for PV systems. Capital market investment includes debt and equity securities procured by pension funds, family offices, endowment funds, and other large managers of investment. These sources of institutional investments allow for the industry to access the lowest cost of capital financing.

SAPC membership included over 480 leading solar developers, financiers and capital managers, law firms, rating agencies, accounting and engineering firms, and other stakeholders engaged in solar asset deployment. SAPC activities were directed toward foundational elements necessary to pool project cash flows into tradable securities:

• Standardization of power purchase, lease and loan contracts for residential and commercial end customers
• Development of performance and credit data sets to facilitate investor due diligence activities
• Engagement of rating agencies to comprehend their risk perception of the solar asset class
• Development of best practice documents for photovoltaic (PV) system installation and operations and maintenance (O&M) protocols to encourage high-quality system deployment and operation that may improve lifetime project performance and energy production. 

Purpose
This Best Practices in C&I PV System Installation Guide is the second of a series of guides designed to standardize and improve solar asset transparency for investors and rating agencies, provide an industry framework for quality management, and reduce transaction costs in the solar asset securitization process. The Best Practices in C&I PV System Installation Guide is intended to outline the minimum requirements for commercial and industrial solar project developments. Adherence to the guide is voluntary. Providers that adhere to the guide are responsible for selfcertifying that they have fulfilled the guide requirements. Investors and rating agencies should verify compliance.

The first in the series, SAPC Best Practices in PV System Installation, was published in March 2015 and addresses best practices in the installation of residential PV systems (Doyle et al. 2015).

Protocol Overview
There is no one-size-fits-all solar deployment strategy. Firms have unique value propositions, customer acquisition strategies, distribution channels, and technical specifications. The framework for the guide includes:

1. Developer qualifications
2. Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) qualifications
3. Design best practices
4. Installation best practices 5. O&M/Operator best practices.

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