Sun Blocked by Skills Shortage?

As an instructor of PV, my biggest fears are the inadaquate training for inspectors and city officials looking toward PV, both installations and planning. Someone is going to get hurt or even killed. Once this happens then every "official" will jump on the bandwagon to require more hoops to jump through. The systems are good, it is the installation and "quality" work practices that need to be inforced.

As for training, The IBEW/NECA, the union electrical aprenticeship, has required PV training, and has journeyperson courses available. I believe that I have personally trained over 200 journeypersons.

The training needs to be standardized, and cookiecuttered.

Sorry for my ignorance, but exactly how is a solar power system any more danagerous than any other electrical power system? Additionally, cities enforce the building codes of the City. So until they adopted a building code for installation requirement of solar systems, they will enforce the electrical and structural codes that apply. As an engineer i see this all the time, complaints about some simple business process seeking more certification and regulation to limit the competition in a unskilled labor field. It is a bit annoying for many Civil engineers I work with. Where there is real risk to labor, certification is not desired because there is a huge shortage of labor to meet work demands, where the labor is simple and relatively safe there are outcries from labor to regulate and require certification. In truth any electrician should be qualified to install solar systems. I have installed them to power environmental treatment and monitoring systems and they are way less complicated than the control systems we use, and i am only a civil engineer. I know for sure I would not mess with the high power systems though. Why complicate something that is actually really simple?

True, cities and counties, do enforce, codes and installations, the problem is that most inspectors are not trained in the use of DC systems. The early PV systems were usually less than 50V DC. No problem. The problem comes from people using AC rated disconnects in DC applications, paralleling battery systems, improper grounding;using dis-similiar metals-causing galvanic reaction, insufficient anchoring of panels on roofs, based on wind loads, inferior materials, improper derating of conductors based no NEC 690.7 or temp correction 310.16. The differences are subtle but hazardous.

I have submitted to the NEC that all readily accessable PV conductors be in EMT or rigid. This is because some installers are using flex or sealtite, with minimal support. Do you want your kid to swing on this or accidentally pull it apart. 120-240V AC or 120-550V DC.

Just my thoughts, have a great week