CA. Senate Bill 1 [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

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It's good to know that over 20,000 people emailed their support for SB 1.

Commercializing PV which means systems installed by licensed contractors was 
always an important requirement of California's rebate program. Many PV 
advocates envisioned the day when PV work would be as common as HVAC 
contracting. That day is here in Japan and Germany and almost here in 
California. Just as there are good and bad licensed HVAC contractors, so too 
are there good and bad PV contractors.

I'm curious how many wrenches are or were IBEW members?

Joel Davidson
(Former IBEW member, January 1966 to February 1967)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Todd Cory, Mt. Shasta Energy Services" <toddcory at finestplanet.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: CA. Senate Bill 1 [RE-wrenches]


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I also have seen some mighty poor electrical work done by "B" general 
contractor
license holders. I am totally amazed they are allowed to do electrical work 
and
it makes a mockery of those of us that got C-10's.

Todd


Barbra Kerr wrote:

>
> I guess I will put my two cents in on this topic and you may want to give
> right back to me!
>
> Please know that the NECA/IBEW labor unions are the behind this particular
> part of the bill.    Please also know that I am a member the Associated
> Builders & Contractors (ABC) a merit shop (Non-union) contractor's trade
> association. As a holder of both a C-10 and B license, I am in favor of 
> this
> requirement, primarily for the following reasons.
>
> 1.  The NEC (the guiding light and bible of any decent electrician) is 
> first
> and foremost written for the protection of life, life safety, and 
> property -
> not to insure that anything particular system or component will work.  As 
> an
> electrician ALL of my education, training, and in field experience is
> primarily focused on these three things - and then on engineering a system
> that will perform within these guidelines. This is hammered home day-in &
> day-out, and we carry our bible with us throughout the business day. 
> C-46's
> (Plumbers) are not indoctrinated into or under the NEC code and therefore 
> do
> not possess (in general) the detailed knowledge required to perform this
> work.
> 2.  The only common scopes of work between a C-46 and C-10 are:
>         a.  Roof mounting integration
>         b.  Ground mount structures
>         c.  Trench design (in most cases)
>         d.  The securing of "collectors" (water or PV) to a racking 
> system.
>      From this point on our scopes of work differ dramatically.
>
> 3.  Electrical interconnection:
>
>         C-46's are not trained in derating of main services, CB retaining
> clips, or GROUNDING.  They are not trained in box and wire fill, or wire
> sizes and voltage drops.  They are not trained to recognize if an existing
> service needs to be replaced even if spaces are existing, they are not
> trained to do load calcs, or recognize an existing fire hazard or what to 
> do
> to prevent one.  They are not trained in using electric meters to check
> voltages, current readings, and troubleshooting of electrical systems.  In
> other states, such as New York and New Jersey ONLY a C-10 can touch 600v
> wire and/or the main service.  This also goes for connecting the modules 
> in
> series, and the strings in parallel.
>
> These are my main reasons for supporting C-10s doing this work.
>
> Now that having been shared, PLEASE KNOW THAT THERE ARE ONLY A HANDFUL OF
> C-46's in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THAT HAVE LEARNED MUCH OF THIS AND DO
> EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT WORK - These people I know personally. And when I 
> have
> competed against them and lost - I let the clients know that they will do 
> a
> great job for them.
>
> Graham is right about the Scope of work defined in the CSLB.  When have we
> known our government to be ahead of the curve?  Until a few years ago, 
> there
> was no such thing as Grid tied PV. 99.9% of PV was off grid in the outback
> or remote locations.  No reason to include the building/utility officials 
> or
> train people.   Let's face it, as this industry grows, the systems
> (government, building, etc...) will change until we hit static and have 
> all
> the kinks and concerns addressed.
>
> Finally, there is nothing stopping a C-46 from testing for their C-10
>
> Barbra K. Kerr
> President
> Kerr Enterprises, Inc
> PO Box 1992
> Twain Harte, Ca 95383
> 1-800-886-2258
> 209-586-9607 Fax
> 858-337-5097 Cell

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