We buy surplus solar PV cable

Solar surplus follows the layout, not the schedule. PV wire at 1 kV and 2 kV runs from 10 AWG through 500 kcmil, and the USE-2 and RHW-2 dual-rated conductor appears on both the DC and the AC side. Racking jumpers, harness cable and grounding conductor come in the same lots.

Most of it originates in a project that was resized, repowered or built in phases. A layout change leaves reels that were cut for an array that no longer exists, and those reels are usually clean, tagged and still banded when they reach the laydown.

PV wire, USE-2 and the two sides of an array

PV wire is the single-conductor cable made for module interconnection, with a jacket rated for sunlight and for the voltages a string produces. USE-2 and RHW-2 dual-rated conductor appears on buried DC feeder and on the AC side, where the run leaves the inverter.

We list the two apart. Size alone does not identify a reel, because a 1 kV PV wire and a 600 V USE-2 in the same gauge are different items. The print on the jacket and the reel tag together settle it, and both are worth photographing.

Sun exposure on cable made for the sun

A PV-rated jacket resists sunlight, but it is not immune to years of it. Cable that sat on a pallet through two summers will show chalky surface, hardened jacket and sometimes fine cracking at the bends. That is checked before anything else.

The second thing is water. Reels stored on end can take rain into the wraps, and an open end lets it travel. We ask for a photograph of the reel ends and of the outer wrap, since those two views answer most of the questions a buyer would have.

Harness, jumpers and the rest of the pallet

A solar laydown rarely holds only bulk wire. There are module jumpers cut to length, harness assemblies with connectors, grounding conductor in coils, and the tails left after a string was reconfigured. All of it belongs in the same lot and is reviewed item by item.

Connectors matter. A jumper with factory connectors still on it is a different item from a bare cut length, and a harness that has been in the field is read as removed. Photograph a representative piece of each and list the counts, since quantity is what makes these small items worth handling.

Utility-scale solar in Central Texas clusters west and northeast of the city, in the open country across Burnet, Williamson and Milam counties, with the larger arrays tied into transmission substations on the ERCOT system. Project laydowns there hold reels through a build and sometimes past it.

Commercial rooftop work in Austin and Round Rock is a different scale, usually a few reels and a box of jumpers left after a warehouse or school install. Both kinds of lot are worth a call, and a repowered array is the most likely source of large PV wire quantities.