PV Installer Certified Program [RE-wrenches]

[Bob-O Schultze, Electron Connection]

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Tom and Jay,
While I disagree with the 4000 hours (this comes DIRECTLY from the 
IBEW, don't kid yourself) and I'm miffed that they expect me to have 
40 hours of NABCEP "approved" PV training (I could TEACH the goddamn 
course-this sounds like a scam to me), I think a national 
certification could be a good thing. Having just spent far too much 
time and travel over the last two years working on a Renewable Energy 
Technician license for Oregon, and knowing what a bad joke it is to 
let C-46 and "B" license holders in California install PV, I think we 
really need something. Most of the States are trying to figure out 
something to do with us solar bozos and for the most part, they 
haven't a clue. The default is to allow only fully licensed 
electricians do RE. This is dumb all around. Regular electricians 
already HAVE a trade and little in THEIR training has taught them 
anything about RE. They do far worse jobs than we ever do.
So RE gets installed by us outlaws. This is not any kind of safety 
hazard for most of us reading this list, but we've all seen some very 
scary stuff done by some OTHER bozo. Truth is, a few installers I've 
seen ought to be arrested for a felony if they are caught holding a 
screwdriver. Certification will go a ways toward preventing that. We 
need to look on down the road. A national certification is more 
likely to be accepted FAR sooner by the States now trying to figure 
this out. If we don't take the initiative and get behind SOMETHING 
like this, we will lose our trade to the big unions and universal RE 
implementation will be delayed-again-yet-more. Can we afford that? 
Can the planet afford that?
Bob-O

>
>PV Installer Certified Program.
>The PV certification program is not going to happen, because every 
>major PV manufacturer and distributorship is virtually against such 
>a program. Notice that there is no one on the list who represents 
>the manufacturer or installer except the (Prozac) company Xantrex.
>They see that:
>1. It is irrelevant to contracting certification in each of the 50 states.
>2. It creates an unnecessary and presumptuous bottleneck for the industry.
>3. There is no need for the program.
>4. It is bureaucratic empire building.
>It will die its own death- the "bureaucracy" has no support from the 
>major players- the PV manufacturers that is the scuttlebutt I am 
>hearing.
>Don't waste your time commenting on a "dead horse".
>Gator Tom
>P.S. Some people may accuse me of being a contrian or iconoclast- 
>but now that I'm over 50 I am a curmudgeon.
>- - - -

-- 
Bob-O Schultze, Electron Connection
PO Box 203, Hornbrook, CA 96044
800.945.7587 or 530.475.3402
fax 530-475-3401
www.electronconnection.com

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