The rooftop temperature adders in NEC 310.15(B)(3)(c) were first included in the 2008 NEC. The proposal to include this requirement was based on a study that showed increased temperatures in conduits on rooftops in direct sunlight. However, there remained unanswered questions for the Southern Nevada Chapter of IAEI; they live with extreme temperatures, and yet installers and inspectors have not seen evidence of failure related to rooftop installations. Since the impact on conductor sizing due to this requirement is significant in the Southern Nevada area, the Chapter funded an experiment to gather more information about rooftop electrical installations exposed to direct sunlight.
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