Installer Certification [RE-wrenches]

Thu Jul 12 10:51:24 PDT 2001

Wrenches,
    This long posting is all related to PV Practitioner certification
issues. My immediate message and request for information is in the first few
paragraphs; the remainder is supportive info.

    Any of you who read my postings (and rants) know that I support the
development of practitioner certifications as a big step toward maturation
of our industry. Next week, Sandia National Lab is hosting a PV Symposium in
Albuquerque (see http://www.sandia.gov/pv/symposium/Symposium%20Agenda.doc).
Preceding the symposium on Tuesday, there will be a half-day session on PV
installer certification, which I had long ago signed up to attend.

    Mark Fitzgerald has been working for several years on international
certification and accreditation standards through the Institute for
Sustainable Power, Inc. (ISP). Earlier this week he asked me to represent
the RE-Wrenches on the Practitioner Certification committee. I was glad to
accept, and I will be there in that role.

    The purpose of this posting is to let all of you know about this, and to
ask for input and discussion on the general topic of installer
certification, so that my contributions can represent something of a
consensus, rather than my personal point of view. I know that this is really
short notice, but it is for me, too. I have not been following the ISP
process to date, so I expect to mostly listen, learn, and take back
information to post here (or elsewhere, if Michael so decrees). I see us
wrenches as representing skilled, independent installers of both intertied
and stand-alone/hybrid PV systems--with an accent on the independent.

    Please contribute.
Allan at Positive Energy

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Fitzgerald <markfitz at ispq.org>
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 11:19 AM
Subject: Invitation: Albuquerque, Certification

> Allan:
> Sorry to extend this invitation at such a late date, but I've screwed
> up. I was planning to contact you more than a month ago, and I'm
> afraid it got away from me.
>
> Sandia is hosting its Systems Symposium next week. On Tuesday, 17
> July, the day before the official Symposium starts, we are holding a
> number of meetings on practitioner certification. I was wondering if
> you would like to represent the Wrenches on the Practitioner
> Certification committee, which will be meeting from 08:00-10:00,
> Thursday morning, at the Sheraton Uptown, in Albuquerque, in the
> Executive Room.
>
> We want to make sure that the Wrenches are represented and know
> what's going on. Even if you didn't want to serve on the board
> (meetings, travel, etc.), if you could represent them at this
> meeting, and others living closer could attend other meetings and
> just get the word out (and comments back), we'd appreciate it. Things
> are going to begin moving quickly, and we don't want to surprise such
> an important constituency.
>
> Thanks for considering this. I hope you'll be able to join us. And,
> if not, could you recommend someone else from the group that you
> would respect to represent your interests? Thanks.
>
> Best regards,
> Mark

My reply to initial invitation:

Mark,
I had planned to attend the certification workshop anyway, so yes, I would.
Please send more info. As you know if you read my occasional wrenches rants,
I support all valid certification efforts and see my/our role as helping
lead this effort.

I would encourage initiating a wrenches discussion on the topic prior to
this session, so that if I am a representative I can carry something of a
consensus.

I would consider board membership, depending on duties and time commitments.
Please inform me, at your convenience.

Thanks for asking.
Allan

Allan:
This is great news, and I especially appreciate it based on the
original late notice.

If you don't mind, I'm going to pass your note along to Jim Dunlop,
who is the Chair of the committee, who will work directly with you to
iron out any details or questions. The Certification Committee
meeting is really his meeting. I'd also like to copy Terri Walters,
who is Chair of the Advisory Board. The recommendations of the
Committees go to her board, and she is very interested in ensuring
that the important stakeholder groups are represented.

Again, thanks. It will be good to see you in Albuquerque.

Best regards,
Mark

>From Jim Dunlop, FSEC:

Dear Colleagues:
The ISP Practitioner Certification subcommittee will be meeting next
Tuesday, July 17 from 08:00-10:00 am, at the Albuquerque Sheraton Uptown, in
the Executive Room.  As some of you have seen from an earlier message from
Jerry Ventre, our plan is to meet jointly with the Accreditation
subcommittee members from 8:00 - 9:00 am, then the Practitioner
Certification subcommittee will meet independently from 9:00 -10:00 am.
>From 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, the full board meets, and we will provide a brief
synopsis of our present and planned efforts for the Practitioner
Certification subcommittee.

Since the roles of the Practitioner Certification and Accreditation
subcommittees are inter-dependent, we thought it would be helpful to begin
with a discussion of the overall process and how the two committees
interrelate.  An important role for the Practitioner Certification committee
will be to define not only the knowledge and skills required of the
practitioner, but to provide guidance on the "certification standards", or
what credentials must the candidate attain to acquire and maintain
certification.   The Accreditation subcommittee depends on our input to
develop requirements for auditing organizations that wish to certify, train
and/or test practitioners to these "standards".

For the Practitioner Certification subcommittee meeting, there are a couple
priority items we need to discuss and resolve.  The first is the PV
installer task analysis, which a number of you have already seen and
reviewed.  For those of you don't already have a copy of this, I am
attaching version 6 to this E-mail.  I will have some guidance and a
checklist for reviewing this task analysis at the meeting.  I also hope to
have draft task analyses for PV designers and inspectors available for
review at the meeting.

The second item for the meeting is to define the "certification standards"
for the PV installer.  These "standards" should be fair, yet rigorous, as
they reflect the knowledge, skills and experience required of the
practitioner.  Compounding the issue is the diverse nature of individuals
who will be seeking certification - some have a lot of experience and few
credentials, others have credentials but little experience.  At this point,
everything is on the table, and the "certification standards" we propose may
include any or all of the following items:

To apply for certification, the candidate may be required to:
- document and verify education, degrees or completion of apprenticeship
program
- have commensurate experience or OJT that can be documented and verified by
a qualified individual (contractor, engineer, employer, etc.)
- existing contractors and other may be exempted from certain qualifying
requirements.

To attain certification a candidate may be required to:
- pass a nationally recognized examination, proctored by an authorized
entity.
- attend an accredited training program on PV installation
- attend a training program on business and contracting

To maintain certification, a candidate may be required to:
- Present work samples over time (e.g., two inspected and signed off
installations per year)
- Complete a certain number of acceptable and related continuing education
units.

This is just a sample of what the "certification standards" might include.
I am counting on your input to help define a solid set of requirements that
have industry buy-in.

For those of you that plan to attend, I look forward to seeing you next
week.  For those of you that can not attend the meeting, please feel free to
comment on these items as you wish.  We'll be posting a workgroup website
for the development of these resources and materials soon - I'll let
everyone know about that.

At present, there are related material posted on our website at:

http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/pvt/accredit/

Best regards,

Jim Dunlop

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