Welcome NABCEP members [RE-wrenches]

Penobscot Solar penobscotsolar at midmaine.com
Sun Aug 27 16:25:55 PDT 2006


Joel,
   I'm going to agree with Bob-O on this one. Not being a licensed
electrician (my partner is) but having installed PV systems since 1988,
I feel that NABCEP not only provides a good deal of credibility but
also appreciate having it as a prerequisite to rebates in my state
(Maine). Of the five NABCEP certified people in Maine, only two are
licensed electricians. We three who are not have been installing solar
for a combined total of over 40 years.
    This year alone we have been to two electrican installed (but not
NABCEP Certified) jobs that were very disheartening for the industry.
One customer had had two Blue Sky controllers blown and were going on
their third. They called us to install it. When we got there the
electrician who had installed the previous two had bugged off the
inverter lugs directly to the controller and had not properly bonded
all the components in the system to ground. We repaired these problems
and the customer has been through three lightning plenty months with
no problems so far.
    The second system was put in by another electrician who was not
certified by NABCEP. Of the three roof mounted arrays of six Shell
150's, one blew completely off the roof in a storm with 60 mph winds
within a year of being installed.
    I have always felt that while the training of an electrician does
qualify them for the electrical connection part of a PV system, there
is much more to installing a typical(?) system that does not enter
into the domain automatically of that field. I feel a NABCEP certified
person must gain a lot of that knowledge to successfully complete the
certification.
    Maine does require NABCEP certification for their rebate program and I
will continue to attend all legislative sessions that concern the PV
industry to ensure that this remains status quo.
>
> Hello Joel,
>  From the start and continuing to this day, it is the NABCEP Board's
> desire for the certification to be totally voluntary. Whenever a less-
> than-voluntary program is proposed by some agency or another, we
> generally will write a letter to that agency reinforcing that desire.
> Unfortunately, as you point out, what any given state or local
> government does or doesn't do is totally out of NABCEP's control.
> This is unfortunate but understandable. Agencies want the best bang
> for their buck. One of the best ways to get that is by having systems
> installed by proven competent installers. Rather than reinvent an
> expensive testing program (like that's gonna happen in these days of
> tight government budgets) they adopt ours and call it good- or at
> least better. While it may not seem to be the best approach in CA
> where you play, having a NABCEP cert has actually opened up some
> other states' PV programs to non-union and other than traditional
> licensing of PV installers.
> Because I sit on NABCEP's Board and because I was very involved in
> the adoption of OR's Renewable Energy Technician license, I know far
> more about many states licensing requirements than I ever wanted to
> know. Believe me when I tell you that a CA solar license is FAR
> easier to get than in most states. In that regard, if a more
> restrictive licensing state wants to accept NABCEP certification as a
> path into their PV program, they are opening their state up to
> competent installers far sooner than waiting for the IBEW or
> traditional non-union electrical tradesmen to come up to speed.
> That, my friend, is a good thing.
> Best, Bob-O
>
> On Aug 26, 2006, at 10:05 AM, Joel Davidson wrote:
>
>>
>> Welcome NABCEP members. I invite you to search NABCEP in the RE-
>> wrenches archive: http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read
>>
>> Around Christmas 2002, NABCEP said it was going to be strictly
>> voluntary and Matt wrote that the certification juggernaut will be
>> impossible to stop (below). Almost 4 years later, the PV world has
>> changed dramatically. Over 2 MW of PV are installed daily, IBEW's
>> 750,000 members have staked their claim for PV work and tens of
>> thousands of trained European and Japanese PV professionals are
>> power blocs that command politicians' attention. Even all-powerful
>> UL is being forced to recognize the global influence of the
>> International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) on PV. NABCEP PV
>> professionals deserve recognition for their knowledge and
>> experience, but overwhelming market forces are bringing PV into the
>> mainstream worldwide faster than this small, dedicated organization
>> can or should attempt to control. I think it would serve the public
>> and industry better if NABCEP offered its voluntary national
>> certification program to a wider audience instead of allowing
>> itself to be written into PV incentive program requirements.
>>
>> Joel Davidson
>
>
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