PV Installer Certified Program/Please Read [RE-wrenches]

[Allan Sindelar]

Fellow Wrenches,
    I asked the contact person for the PV installer certification effort
that has been discussed in the last couple of weeks to prepare "...an
introductory piece explaining the purpose, history, justification, benefits,
costs, committee makeup, etc. of the
national certification effort..." to get out to our forum ASAP.
    Her response follows. Please save this until after the holiday break,
read it carefully, and then let's contribute our input to this. This needs
our support behind it to make it happen, and as you will read, with our
input it will be of great benefit to us as independent installers.
    Thank you.
Allan at Positive Energy

December 21, 2001

Dear Wrenches:

Until the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP)
released its Proposed Certification Requirements two weeks ago, most of you
had likely never heard of the organization or its efforts.  NABCEP is a
small nonprofit in the preliminary stages of developing (hopefully) PV
practitioner certification, and we haven't done much "marketing," beyond
conference presentations, workshops, magazine articles, and word of mouth.
This is a summary of who and what NABCEP is, and why we are working toward
PV certification.

Mark Fitzgerald, of the Institute for Sustainable Power (some of you may
know him), has been involved in the solar field for more than 20
years--mostly the information and education side.  The idea for PV
practitioner certification and training program accreditation was sparked at
a Rockefeller Foundation meeting on renewable energy that took place in
October 1995.  At that meeting, an official from the international finance
and insurance industry indicated that he would be interested in funding PV
installations in developing countries, but could not do so without some
industry-acknowledged credential indicating that the installing practitioner
was qualified to perform the work. Without a third-party credential, he
could not justify loaning money to PV projects because improper installation
and maintenance work was leading to a high system failure rate, essentially
a waste of funding efforts.

This led Mark to found the Institute for Sustainable Power, Inc. (ISP) to
work on the development of international quality standards for the
certification of PV practitioners.

Mark worked with PV industry stakeholders to develop ISP as a global
framework.  ISP is working with solar stakeholders to help develop the
practitioner standards and will accredit training organizations (FSEC become
the 1st accredited org in the U.S. this past summer).  Each participating
country will develop its own administration and specifications for a
national certification program.  National organizations will consist of
representatives chosen by relevant stakeholders within the country.

So "NABCEP"--the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners--is
the national organization for the U.S. and possibly Canada.  Mark began work
to form NABCEP in 2000 as U.S. efforts to study and implement practitioner
certification systems began to heat up.  Mark polled stakeholders and
subject matter experts in the U.S. to identify potential board members and
Technical committee members.

FSEC was an early key player, especially as they were already working on
training and testing for Florida PV installers. In addition, Jim Dunlop,
Bill Brooks, and others had been working on developing and validating a Task
Analysis for PV Installers since 1998.  A committee of 11 PV experts
assembled, including Mark McCray, Bill Brooks, John Wiles, and others.
These people are volunteering their time (!) to help establish the skills
and knowledge requirements for competent PV installation.

In April 2001the interested stakeholder representatives came together for
the first time as a provisional national board.  The volunteers used two
guides in identifying other necessary representatives on the board: 1)
Identify key stakeholder groups not already participating, especially those
affected by certification and those with important input into the
certification process; 2) Identify the appropriate individuals to represent
the key stakeholder groups.

Since their first meeting in April 2001, the NABCEP Board has grown to
include thirteen members and five alternates from those representing
installers (Les Nelson and Don Loweburg), industry (SEIA, Xantrex), training
and education (NJATC, community colleges), government agencies (Sandia,
NREL, DOE), labor (IBEW, NECA), and states (IREC).  The goal is consensus
and broad stakeholder input.  This method should create a certification that
is a valid quality designation--while avoiding becoming subject to one
special interest (like individual manufacturers or the government).

FSEC continues to be involved, currently working to develop a prototype
exam.  Meanwhile, the Tech Committee began the process of developing the
certification requirements (which have been posted to this List for comment)
and the board, after MUCH disagreement and argument, finally approved the
current version for release for public comment.  We released this version in
the hope of getting stakeholder comment to guide us in developing the next
version.  We knew that different stakeholder groups might have very strong
feelings about the rigor of the experience and training prerequisites--and
we are VERY interested in hearing those comments. We need to hear from
current installers more than anyone else to know whether these draft
requirements are reasonable or not.

What are NABCEP's Goals?
NABCEP has three goals.  First, certification is a way to protect the
consumer.  Even if the PV hardware is fabulous, faulty installation creates
ineffective or dangerous systems.  Consumers--in any field--deserve quality
work.  When safety is at stake, quality work becomes an imperative.

Second, certification is a way to promote the renewable energy industry.  PV
will not become a widespread, successful application in U.S. until systems
are dependably installed, and are reliable and safe. Each time a system
fails, or even just fails to live up to consumer expectations, that is a
black mark for the industry that will impede its growth.  To wit: solar
thermal in the 1970s and 80s.

Third, certification should provide value to practitioners.  This happens as
the PV market expands through consumer awareness and satisfaction.  It also
happens when experienced, skilled practitioners are able to set themselves
apart from the unqualified competition by displaying their certification
credential.

NABCEP will need to charge an application fee and a testing fee to cover the
costs of providing the certification.  We have not set our fees, but we will
be reasonable in setting them.  We understand that if this VOLUNTARY
certification costs too much, even the potential benefits of certification
will not overcome the cost barrier.  We do not expect to break even on
administrative costs until after a few years of providing certification--and
that may be optimistic.

Another reason why this certification is being developed is to provide those
states that are beginning to develop PV licensing requirements with a
national standard on which to build.  As Larry Elliott pointed out on 12/21
on the Wrenches list, an electrician's license is not necessarily a
predictor of quality electrical work.  If states develop piecemeal PV
licensing requirements, those licenses might be no more valid than an
electrician's license sometimes seems to be.  A national, industry-developed
voluntary certification program with carefully developed standards,
supported by a validated Task Analysis, will provide a wonderful starting
point for state licensing programs.  In addition, nationally developed
standards mean that the certificate would be portable, that there is less
bureaucracy in going from state to state.  State-by-state development of PV
licenses could be a messy prospect.

What's Next?
NABCEP originally wanted to get its PV installer certification program up
and running by June 2002.  We are currently facing some fairly difficult
challenges in this effort.  However, we plan to move forward.  This includes
collecting comments from subject matter experts on the task analysis to be
incorporated into a final document.  The certification process will be
refined based on the stakeholder comments we receive. The exam will be
developed and validated and a passing score will be set. Finally, an
administrative organization will be contracted to run the certification
program, in an effort to keep costs to a minimum.  When these tasks have
been accomplished, NABCEP will be ready to begin certifying PV installers.

How to Contact NABCEP
Information about NABCEP is available on the Web at: www.nabcep.org.

NABCEP administrative support is currently provided by Wendy Parker of the
Institute for Sustainable Power (ISP).  She can be reached at (720) 344-0341
or wparker at nabcep.org

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