solar tax legislation? [RE-wrenches]

[Chris Anderson]

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Jeff,

The following is a letter that we sent to CAL SEIA regarding our
position on the Bill. 


Dear CALSEIA,

This is Mike Hall one of the owners of Borrego Solar Systems. We are one
of the larger solar integrators in California and a member of CALSEIA.
We have a C46 license, 3 NABCEP certified installers on staff, and will
have a C10 license in the next 30 days. I am writing to express our
company's concerns over the clause in SB1 that states that installations
would have to be done by a contractor with a C10 license.  We feel
strongly that this would be very harmful to large number of your member
organizations as well as the industry as a whole. 

It is our understanding that this clause was inserted with the purpose
of trying to insure that the quality of these state subsidized projects
would be high, and that the rate payers would see the benefit in the
form of good solar production. It is our belief that this clause will in
no way help achieve this goal. Being a licensed C10 does not mean that a
person knows anything about solar. There has not been a single
photovoltaic question on any C10 exam. The average electrician knows
nothing more about photovoltaic than they do about HVAC installation. We
feel that the IBEW lobby has done a great job of marketing and is trying
to convince the legislature that this work can only be done by persons
with C10 licenses. Their objective has to do with supporting their
membership rather than increasing quality standards. This is completely
misleading. There are many people who have C46 or B licensees that are
very qualified to perform solar installations. Some of the most
experienced persons in the industry have been working under C46 license
for 10 or 20 years. While the C46 license exam is no where near perfect
it does at least address the topic of photovoltaic design and
installation, which is not done in the C10 exam. 

We agree that work should be done by qualified personnel. We would be in
favor of requiring mandatory training or an external certification in
order to participate in the program. There are a number of existing
resources or models that could be used to quickly develop an education
or certification program. The LADWP requires that people take an intense
2 day training course in order to participate in the program. Many of
our employees went through this training and found that it gave a very
good overview of the design and installation issues that an installer
would need to be concerned with. An example of a more stringent
requirement would be the NABCEP exam. It is our belief that this is
currently the only existing certification that deals entirely with PV.
The exam is intense, and a person could not pass unless they had a very
clear understanding of the design, operation, and installation of PV
systems. Furthermore there are very stringent experience requirements a
person must meet prior to passing this exam. It is our feeling that
requiring one or both of these would go much further towards increasing
the quality of installations under the new program.

If the rebate program that comes out of SB1 requires contractors to have
a C10 license it will put a large unnecessary financial hardship on many
experienced solar contractors currently doing quality work. Starting on
July 1st anybody working under a C10 will have to be a certified
electrician. While we believe this exam may be important for persons
working as electricians (the wiring of houses, offices, and industrial
facilities), this exam does not address solar and will have very limited
utility for those who do exclusively PV work. The cost of getting all
workers certified could be tremendous, and at the same time would not be
helping to improve the quality of these installations. 

In conclusion we feel that the currently there is no trade license that
certifies that a person is qualified to do solar photovoltaic
installations. The C46 exam is the only exam that even addresses PV, but
it is not perfect. We feel that if the goal of the program is insure
quality installations than an external certification should be required.
This should be something similar to either the NABCEP exam or LADWP
training program. We feel that anyone with C46, B, or C10 should be
allowed to participate in the program if they are qualified. However
none of these licenses alone guarantees that they are qualified.

I would like to hear CALSEIA's position on this issue. Furthermore I
would appreciate it if you could let me know who else I should email
about this issue. Any key members of the legislature or other lobby
groups involved in the process. Thank you.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++

 
Chris Anderson
Chief Operations Officer
Borrego Solar Systems, Inc.
727 Allston Way, Suite B
Berkeley, CA 94710
Tel - 510-843-1113 x 105
Fax - 510-843-1116
Cell - 510-501-7062
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: i2p at aol.com [mailto:i2p at aol.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 6:44 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: solar tax legislation? [RE-wrenches]

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In a message dated 6/6/2005 6:08:46 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
tony at appliedsolarenergy.com writes:
At this point, SEIA is for the bill, as it includes this provision. As
PV Chair, I'd like your thoughts and input.
Jeff, There is a huge problem in this bill. Basically in Senate
committee an 
amendment was made that limited solar installs to C10  (ca elec
contractors). 
This single change disenfranchises all existing c46 and A and B who have
been 
installing whether they are qualified or not. For example NABCEP
certified c46 
could not install. This is particularilly nasty in my mind because it is
a 
very consious move by IBEW (they are behind the amendment). The
independents 
have been shafted by organised labor. I have for years been trying to
bridge the 
gap between installling solar brothers--now this. Labor --you need to
fix 
this. I am a bit over the edge here but there will be hell to pay if
this is not 
fixed. Many independents are prepared for the "nuclear" option if this
is not 
fixed. I can understand this as they have nothing to loose. Just be
clear, 
there are major forces at play with the intention to shape the solar
future in 
their image--Think Big Oil, Big Labor

Don Loweburg

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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