[RE-wrenches] State licensing for PV installers in Texas
North Texas Renewable Energy Inc
ntrei at earthlink.net
Wed Oct 29 17:26:02 PDT 2008
It seems odd, in Texas we are considered a right-to-work state, unions are not a powerful entity as in a number of other states. You will find most Union Electricians, at least here in the North Texas area, work for cities and larger corporations. Due to the huge military-aerospace industry in Fort Worth and Dallas most large mil-contractors (think Lockheed Martin) only use Union workers. This includes Electricians. >From this perspective, I don't see a lot of union power concentrated in Texas.
But the IEC is very active in the balance of the state among retail and commercial scale Electrical Contractors.
So I guess I don't understand the caution by TREIA in their dealings with the unions. Bob's right, there is plenty of work for everybody. So is the Texas union lobby being coached by IBEW members from outside the state?
I guess considering the history of unions in the US I would not be surprised to see a power grab.
Jim Duncan
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Maynard
To: RE-wrenches
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] State licensing for PV installers in Texas
We had a lot of resistance from the unions. I remember testifying before a Senate hearing and there were just three of us from the industry speaking for the creation of the license. The unions had at least 6 paid lobbyists speaking against it. In the end we prevailed when a Senator asked the union lobbyists for specific details of their renewable energy training programs and they had none in place! To help bring peace, we put together a 10kw project with the local utility to be installed on the State Capitol. We handed it to the unions to install and coordinated it with a professional pv training course. The thing to remember is this industry is going to grow so fast, there will not be enough solar electricians to do all the work and we need the manpower of the traditional electrical industry to help deploy all the solar yet to be installed!
Regards,
Bob Maynard
VP NW Distribution Sales
groSolar What the World Needs. NOW
535 NE Westbrook Way
Grants Pass, OR 97526
Direct: 541.291.4044
TollFree: 800.467.6527 x4044
Fax: 541.476.7480
Mobile: 541.761.1636
groSolar.com
http://blog.groSolar.com
North America's Premier Installer, Distributor and Integrator of Solar Energy Solutions
Distributor for Evergreen Solar, Suntech Power, SMA, Fronius, PV Powered, Outback Power, GridPoint, UniRac, Heliodyne SHW and other premier renewable energy products
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of North Texas Renewable Energy Inc
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 3:17 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] State licensing for PV installers in Texas
Having watched enviously for years as other states put PV incentive programs into place, I have seen the opposition from the electrical unions and large electrical contractors, especially in California.
What sort of friction did Oregons licensing procedure experience compared to California?
Jim Duncan
North Texas Renewable Energy Inc
817.917.0527
ntrei at earthlink.net
www.ntrei.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Maynard
To: RE-wrenches
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] State licensing for PV installers in Texas
Jim,
In Oregon we have a Limited Renewable Energy Technician license. We are capped at 25kw and can do residential and commercial. The LRT license does not allow us to make final AC connections on any system and requires a site visit from an electrician.
Regards,
Bob Maynard
VP NW Distribution Sales
groSolar What the World Needs. NOW
535 NE Westbrook Way
Grants Pass, OR 97526
Direct: 541.291.4044
TollFree: 800.467.6527 x4044
Fax: 541.476.7480
Mobile: 541.761.1636
groSolar.com
http://blog.groSolar.com
North America's Premier Installer, Distributor and Integrator of Solar Energy Solutions
Distributor for Evergreen Solar, Suntech Power, SMA, Fronius, PV Powered, Outback Power, GridPoint, UniRac, Heliodyne SHW and other premier renewable energy products
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of North Texas Renewable Energy Inc
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2:45 PM
To: RE Wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] State licensing for PV installers in Texas
Wrenches
the Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulation has (finally) proposed a Limited Solar Electric License for installers in Texas. There is currently no "solar license" in Texas.
Among other fairly arbitrary and borderline ridiculous potential requirements (IMHO) is a 50 kWDC cap on the size of systems allowed, based on inverter rated output. Also the license holder may not work on commercial installations.
Are these typical of the license restrictions in other states?
thanks
Jim Duncan
North Texas Renewable Energy Inc
817.917.0527
ntrei at earthlink.net
www.ntrei.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20081029/7af5fba8/attachment-0004.html>
More information about the RE-wrenches
mailing list