[RE-wrenches] NABCEP suggestions

Sat Jun 2 12:12:10 PDT 2012

Thanks Andrew for offering to present the observations and comments to the
NABCEP board for consideration.

I know I am having a hard time staying on this thread due to work load. I
encourage all of you to list in order of priority what you would like to see
different in the NABCEP process.

I live in a state and area that does not have solar Licensing and I do
welcome the accreditation.

There are so many newbie’s coming up and I would hate to see RE get a
bad reputation. I think that the NABCEP process should help to avoid this.

Andrew my list for the NABCEP board is:

1.    Better access - local/proctored testing. The carbon foot print of a 14
hour round trip drive is ridiculous and a waste of time & resources. We
actually had 1 sort of local test after I contacted most of the Colorado
western slope solar companies and it was administered at a local college in
Gunnison. However it was still a 5 hour round trip drive for most of the
companies, instead of being offered in Grand Junction or Montrose [both of
which have colleges of varying sizes] which would have been very central for
the majority of the attendees. 

2.    Increasing the test frequency to 3 or even 4 times a year.

3.    A basic PV grid tie cert. for 50KW and under.

4.    Having separate adders for over 50 KW and off grid. These would be
additional and acknowledging that you have passed the basic 50 KW and under.

List away folks & Thanks.

Dana Orzel - Great Solar Works, Inc -  E - dana at solarwork.com -  V
970.626.5253

F - 970.626.4140     C - 970.209.4076     web - www.solarwork.com  

"Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988"

Please consider the environment before printing this email   NABCEP #
051112-136

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Truitt
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 4:16 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] NABCEP

Wrenches - I'd like to address some of the aforementioned concerns about
NABCEP.  I do not claim to present the official NABCEP "company line", but I
have been a certificant since 2007, have been involved with a few
programmatic committees, and currently sit on the board of directors.

*	I certainly sympathize with Dana's frustration with having to drive
a full day to get to a testing center.  There are many others in a similar
situation and it is one of the complaints about NABCEP that I hear most
often (along with exam frequency).  Unfortunately NABCEP is still a very
small certification body relative to trade licensing and, as a voluntary
certification, we just don't have the resources that states do.
*	Allan is correct about the processes the Exam Committees have to
undergo in order to follow defensible psychometric principles and maintain
NABCEP's ANSI accreditation.
*	What additional resources would people like to use at the exam?  I
would be happy to take suggestions to the Board.
*	I think most certificants would agree that there would be a value in
multiple, specialized NABCEP PV certifications.  If fact there has been
numerous internal discussions about exactly that and I think the next
certification that NABCEP develops will fall into this category.  However,
certification development takes time and money, and some of the programs
that NABCEP has developed have not received the interest that was
anticipated, so we need to perform our due diligence before committing the
sizable resources that it takes to create a new certification.  As the PV
Installer certification stands now, it is intended to test a broad variety
of knowledge, largely because historically companies were smaller and
employees were more likely to be generalists.  The industry has obviously
grown very rapidly with one result being increased specialization and NABCEP
does intend to keep up with this trend.  With all that in mind NABCEP
welcomes targeted donations for developing new credentials. 
*	Certification certainly is a business, though I think that its worth
noting that NABCEP was created by installers who were concerned with the
workmanship of RE system installations and didn't want to see a repeat of
what happened to the solar water heating industry in the '70s.  Since its
inception NABCEP has been a volunteer-driven non-profit entity, guided by
some of the most knowledgeable and dedicated people in the industry (many of
whom are on this list-serve). 
*	We are well aware of the fact that NABCEP certs often get "promoted
off the roof" and find themselves in design, sales or managerial rolls.
Obviously this reflects well on NABCEP certificants, but it is a problem for
a program that requires ongoing field work for re-certification.  This is
yet another challenge that we hope to address with future, more specialized
certifications.  Note that it takes somewhere between 12 and 18 months to
properly develop a credentialing program, and NABCEP has been quite busy
over the years responding to market demands for Entry Level, Technical
Sales, Small Wind, and now Company Accreditation.  We know that the industry
is changing and we need to change with it, so keep the suggestions coming!

I think everyone I've ever met has had some idea about how NABCEP could be
better, and often times they are right.  Unfortunately NABCEP operates under
the real-world constraints of budgets, fund raising, volunteer availability,
consensus building, accreditation requirements, etc...   In the end I think
it is hard to argue that NABCEP has not benefited our industry.  NYSERDA did
a study and found that systems that were installed by NABCEP Certified PV
Installers had less issues at inspection than those built by non-NABCEP
installers.  As someone who cares deeply about installation quality and
safety, this tells me that NABCEP does provide value and fills a needed roll
in our industry.

For a brighter energy future,

Andrew Truitt 
NABCEP Certified PV InstallerT (ID# 032407-66)

Principal
Truitt Renewable Energy Consulting

 <tel:%28202%29%20486-7507> (202) 486-7507

 <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713>
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-truitt/8/622/713

"Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion
to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor
safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could
ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!"

~William McDonough

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 5:56 PM, Chris Mason <cometenergysystems at gmail.com>
wrote:

One of the issues I have with the NABCEP certification is the title. When I
look at the subject matter, comparing the scope to other similar
certifications, I feel "installer" is not really accurate. I have a couple
of workers that install PV systems with me, and they are able to get the job
done. They are what I would call installers. They don't work with the
customer to design the right solution and solve problems, lay out the best
approach and develop the right bill of materials.

The skills that the NABCEP  PV certification Job Task Analysis requires is
more of a systems designer. An installer does not need trigonometry,
electrical theory and mechanical design to that extent.

In other disciplines, anyone with the depth of knowledge the NACBEP requires
would be a systems designer and project manager. The title "Installer" does
not properly convey this knowledge and skill set, and does not give the
customer an accurate representation of the role of the professional. 

-- 
Chris Mason

President, Comet Systems Ltd

NABCEP Certified PV installer 092411-103

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