NABCEP now available worldwide!

Attention international alumni! SEI is excited to announce that NABCEP certification just got more accessible. On October 17, The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners announced that for the first time NABCEP’s Photovoltaic (PV) Associate exam will be administered outside of North America. According to a press release on NABCEP’s website, the international exam will be the same one that is offered in North America, in a computerized format, and in English only.

NABCEP’s executive director, Shawn O’Brien, also released the following statement in the press release: “Candidates for NABCEP’s PV Associate exam live all over the globe, but until now they had to travel to either the U.S. or Canada to take the exam,” he said. “International administrations of NABCEP’s PV Associate exam will be offered at any of the international test sites of our testing vendor, Castle Worldwide, Inc.”

According to NABCEP, the PV Associate exam will be available in over 370 cities in 97 countries across the globe, including China, India, Australia, Germany, and Kenya. There will be an additional $75 fee for international students, which is a standard of Castle Worldwide, Inc. exams.

As an international solar energy training organization with student alumni in 145 countries, Solar Energy International (SEI) is excited to share this news with our worldwide network. The following is a statement from SEI’s Kristopher Sutton, Director of Business Development – Middle East and Africa.

“The ability to offer NABCEP’s PVA exam internationally is a huge development for SEI,” Kris said.  “Our Middle East program is rapidly growing in tandem with the markets in the region. Utilities and governments in the MENA region are working to develop standards that ensure safe, quality PV installations and for many years our students have been hearing about NABCEP and asking about access to their exams. Now, by offering the exam internationally we have an option to better serve our students and support the development of strong solar market around the world.”

Are you interested in NABCEP certification or sitting for the NABCEP exam? Solar energy training at SEI is a great place to start! Get started in the solar industry today with our free course RE100: Introduction to Renewable Energy or our course on the basics of solar PV training, PVOL101: Solar Training-Solar Electric Design and Installation.

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Invest in a future powered by renewable energy with the Clean Energy Credit Union

Have you ever wondered how you can support the clean energy movement? Clean Energy Credit Union presents a new, exciting opportunity to join the fight against climate change, protect the environment, and invest in sustainable practices.

Clean Energy Credit Union is a member-owned, member-governed financial institution with a unique twist: it is focused exclusively on loans that help people fund clean energy projects such as solar electric systems, electric vehicles, home energy efficiency retrofits, electric-assist bicycles, and more.

A group of clean energy enthusiasts came together to develop the Clean Energy Credit Union. According to Amanda Bybee, one of the primary organizers, the official process to form the lending institution started back in 2014.

“The motivation was to create a financing mechanism for homeowners that felt more transparent, that had competitive terms, and that would harness the power of the world at large to support clean energy in an innovative way,” Amanda explained.

Clean Energy Credit Union is one of just 17 new federal charters that has been approved since 2017, and the first one based in Colorado in over 30 years. However, anyone in the U.S. with a membership to the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) can join and make use of the financial services.

“We will operate entirely online, so that the operational overhead of Clean Energy Credit Union is really lean, and then we can put that back into low interest rates on our loans,” Amanda explained. Clean Energy Credit Union is federally insured, which presents a low-risk investment opportunity for members.

Individuals interested in supporting this unique, grassroots movement to make clean energy investments more accessible can participate in two ways:

1. Donate online today to the crowdfunding campaign. A donation of $40 includes a one-year membership to ASES, a requirement for joining Clean Energy Credit Union.
2. Become a member by the end of the year, when it opens for business, with a savings account or a CD.

“Our hope that this becomes a mechanism to accelerate the adoption of clean energy and enable everyone to participate in the clean energy movement. We believe that the interest is out there for people to put their money in places that are meaningful,” Amanda explained, “It’s just about getting the word out to them.”

You, too, can spread the word about this innovative investment opportunity by sharing the website and crowdfunding page with your friends, family, and network today.

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SEI is Hiring! Join SEI as a PV Team Curriculum Developer – Apply Today!

Vision of Curriculum and Instruction Department

SEI’s mission is to provide industry-leading technical training and expertise in renewable energy to empower people, communities, and businesses worldwide. Since 1991, SEI has provided training for all levels of professionals within the solar electric industry; whether a person is new to the industry or wants to expand their skills—from grid-tied to battery-based to O&M, from residential to utility-scale to microgrids. The Curriculum and Instruction Department is responsible for ensuring that our online, in-person, hands-on, and contract trainings are industry- leading and delivered to SEI’s standards in the appropriate language.

Job Description: Successful candidates for our PV Curriculum Developer position will: combine PV technical knowledge with the ability to effectively communicate these concepts to various audiences; enthusiastically participate and communicate in a team-environment while being self-directed; engage in evolving SEI’s educational models; meet deadlines; and continuously strive to meet SEI’s standard of quality and professionalism with our instruction.

Curriculum Development

Technical editing and developing of SEI’s PV curriculum, including PowerPoints, exercises, quizzes, and videos for online and in-person trainings, including:

• Updating course curriculum, structure, and format
• Ensuring online and in-person curriculum are cohesive
• Soliciting, tracking, and implementing instructor feedback
• Participating in the development of new PV courses and SEI textbooks o Developing conference and contract curriculum

Instructor

Instruct PV courses in-person and online, as needed

PV Team Member

• Attend weekly PV Team meetings, participate on subcommittees, and engage in SEI staff meetings
• Represent SEI at industry conferences
• Participate in SEI’s annual PV instructor training
• Assist registration staff with student placement and general technical questions from thepublic

Preferred Qualifications

Minimum of 3 years of experience installing and designing PV systems and a strong technical understanding of best practices, industry standards, and the National Electrical Code

• Minimum of 2 years of experience creating curriculum and/or instruction
• NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installation Professional
• IREC Certified preferred
• Excellent written, verbal, and organizational skills
• Strong preference for bilingual, Spanish/English languages
• Ability to work and communicate well in a team environment, under tight deadlines, andto adapt to new situations
• Experience and expertise using MS PowerPoint and MS Office, Adobe Illustrator, CAD,and other industry-specific software
• Ability to work self-directed in an online, virtual environment and with a remote team
• Ability to communicate effectively with co-workers via email and Skype
• Requires occasional travel to SEI, conferences, and other SEI trainings

Salary and benefits

This position is full-time (40 hours), based remotely but will involve a few weeks a year at SEI’s home office and lab facility in Colorado. Salary starting at $24/hour. Additional benefits include health insurance, paid time-off, and a retirement package.

To Apply

Applications due October 30, 2017. Ideal start date is November 27, 2017. To apply, please submit your resume, including industry-specific training, cover letter, and three references in one combined PDF to jobs@solarenergy.org

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SEI’s Solar energy training impacts projects around the world

Lessons learned at Solar Energy International (SEI) can be life-changing for students who take our solar energy training both online and in-person at our campus in Paonia, Colorado. In the case of SEI alum, Estevan Figueroa, the impact of SEI classes will spread across the world as he takes what he learned in PV301L: Solar Electric Lab Week (Battery-Based) to Uganda.

Estevan traveled to SEI’s campus in Paonia, Colorado in October for solar energy training in battery-based Photovoltaics (PV). Estevan works with a non-profit, Africa Development Promise, which, “moves women farmers from food for subsistence to food for business using the cooperative model of enterprise. To promote economic empowerment, [they] have adopted a multi-faceted approach to address the concerns of women farmers.  Chief among them is access to sustainable and affordable water and electricity.”

Formerly involved in the oil and gas industry, Estevan accrued years of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) training. He got his start in non-profits around 8 years ago as an event coordinator. It was a combination of his OSHA training, non-profit experience and interest in solar that poised him to join the Africa Development Promise team in their mission to install ‘solar kiosks’ in addition to other initiatives in the Wakiso District in Uganda.

In January, Estevan will travel to Uganda for two years to act as a project coordinator and safety inspector for Africa Development Promise. Estevan is currently interning with Utah-based Beautifi Solar, an installation company donating equipment and overseeing the initial design of PV that will go on the ‘solar kiosks.’

According to Estevan, kiosks will be “education stations” for the community. Basic structures in the region have already been build at cooperatives established by Africa Development Promise. At each cooperative there is a greenhouse with a DC (direct-current) water pumping application. The kiosks will add a power station for people to charge their house batteries, used for emergencies, that typically take a costly commute of 12-20 miles to charge. Kiosks will include wifi and a hub for renting tools. There will be a designated person renting out the tools, trained in OSHA standards by Estevan, who will be able to provide guidance. “The next step is teaching about how to maintain the PV systems next year or the year after that,” Estevan said.

Additionally, Estevan shared one more aspect of the solar kiosks, “One of the other things that I think is really cool about these systems is not only will we have the tools and the training and the means of powering the batteries,” Estevan said, “but I love an ice, cold beverage. Something that’s so minute for us here, but in the villages where we will be working, some of the people have never had the opportunity to have a cold beverage. So we’re going to have a fridge there when you come to charge your battery or rent some tools, or if you’re just using the internet for a while, you can get one free beverage.”

Aligning with Africa Development Promise’s mission, the kiosks as a source of wifi, will also give the opportunity for the village to market and sell their agricultural products with the help of the internet.

When Estevan leaves at the beginning of January for Uganda, with the structures already in place, he will be able to start installing and commissioning systems immediately. Estevan credits SEI with the achievement of solar knowledge which he will bring on his journey.

“All of the instructors have great passion, great energy and great real world examples of how it’s applicable and I had a blast,” Estevan said. “ This has been amazing, it’s been a lot, a lot of fun.”

To learn more about renewable energy applications for the developing world, check out SEI’s RDOL101: Appropriate Technology for the Developing World.

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SEI represented at South Carolina’s largest install to date

On October 4, Solar Energy International (SEI) was represented at the grand opening of the largest solar array in Upstate South Carolina. The 1 MW solar array, which went live earlier this year, was launched by Glen Raven Fabrics LLC, in partnership with Hannah Solar, a full-service solar integrator based in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices in South Carolina.

The install, which is located on the company’s Anderson campus, is the most recent of two large scale solar installs, according to an article from the Greenville Business Magazine, putting Glen Raven Fabrics LLC on the forefront of the movement toward renewables in the textile industry.

Raven’s president and CEO, Lieb Oehmig told Greenville Business Magazine, “We have culturally always had a great interest and responsibility to make sure we are looking at environmentally sound and sustainable practices,” Oehmig said. He added that this $2 million system will pay for itself in energy savings in just four years, and there is also potential to add on to the system in the neighboring property, also owned by the company.

SEI’s Student Services and Solar Professionals Certificate Program Advisor, Breccia Cressman, attended the event. Also represented were executive team members from Duke Energy, local politicians, and employees from both Glen Raven Fabrics, and Hannah Solar. Alongside SEI at the “solar village” tent were Gerhardt Electric Bikes, TEVA EV Association, and Elon University with a solar generator.

“The installation was inspiring and indicative of the growth and excitement about solar technology in the SouthEast region,” Breccia said.  “SEI connected with professor Robert Charest of Elon University who also had a demonstration table, members of the Anderson County Economic Development Offices who were interested in bringing more solar training to the region, and Hannah Solar.”

Pictured in this article is the ELF Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle, one of the first mass-marketed exclusively solar vehicles. According to Breccia, SEI had the chance to reconnect with old friends and SEI Alumni Jack Martin, professor at Appalachian State, and Derek Robinson of Glen Raven, who were demonstrating the ELF Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle and several solar bicycles for attendees.

“It was amazing representing SEI at such a historic and inspiring event,” Breccia said. “As both a local to this region and a member of the solar industry, it’s great to see local and regional businesses setting an example and moving to adopt more sustainable practices like solar, as well as the support and representation from Duke Energy.”

The ELF is an EV powered with a 100-watt solar panel

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Alumni Highlight: Students Terry and Bill Jackson prepare for an install in Sudan in Paonia lab classes

Students gleefully huddled around the lab yard’s steep roof mounted solar system smiling for photos as the Solar Energy International (SEI) banner whipped in the wind in the background. Cameras flashed as photos abound and the soft crunch of wood chips enveloped the lab yard as the class scattered, certificates-in-hand, to say their final goodbyes: it’s graduation day at SEI’s campus in Paonia.

Terry Jackson, a graduate of SEI’s PV201L: Solar Electric Lab Week (Grid-Direct) stood beaming as she described her future plans to apply the knowledge she learned that week in class. “We’ve taken courses, we’ve studied, but it really, really makes a difference having hands-on solar experience before you go out and do a project like this,” she explained. The project she was referring to is a solar system slated to be installed on a school in Akot, Sudan, a project nearly 10 years in the making for Terry, which is planned for commission next year.

It started back in 2003, “our first trip out there was a mission trip,” Terry explained. She first visited the country when a friend asked Terry to join her. Working with the organization, Living Waters Community Transformation, they focused their efforts on education.

“Only 2 percent of kids there go to elementary school, and we thought one of the biggest contributions we could make was through supporting education,” Terry explained. “So we developed these schools, initially they were under thatched roofs and many students were crammed into small rooms for classes, and now we have a building so we’re making progress.”

The Living Waters Community Transformation organization built a school for 900 students in the region, however, fuel is extremely expensive and there is still no access to electricity. “There’s no power any place close, there’s absolutely no grid,” Terry explained. There is a submerged water pump in the school, but there is a need to charge phones and laptops. The goal, according to Terry, is to ensure these projects are sustainable, and the path to achieving that goal is through producing their own energy.

“The best solution for an environment like that is solar,” Terry said.  “They have plenty of sun, it’s a great place for solar, and it can be a model for other communities, too.” Terry has a design in the works for the building, a battery-based system with a backup generator, however an obstacle is its remote location, all materials used must be produced and shipped locally. After the components of the system are ordered in December, Terry plans to travel to Akot in March for inventory and then the install will start in June.

Bill Jackson, who will also join the install in Sudan, was in class with Terry as well. “I’ve worked as an electrician for years, but I’ve never mounted anything and that’s why I wanted to come to SEI,” Bill said. A crucial component to the project is safety and maintenance, and Bill and Terry want to make sure that the system will run safely and sustainably after they leave.

Terry added, “Our experience with SEI has been invaluable because not only have we learned the proper way of installation and all the nuances of the different systems, but we experienced instructors who have done these installations many times and they could tell us the pros and cons of different set ups and different vendors,” she said. “That’s invaluable information, and I don’t know where else you can get it.”

In addition to battery-based courses, those who are interested in learning more about applications for renewable energy in the developing world can take RDOL101: Appropriate Technology for the Developing world to learn more about sustainable off-grid projects.

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Solar in the news: SEI instructor weighs in on Elon Musk’s proposal to strengthen the grid in Puerto Rico through renewables and storage

Could solar and storage technology help rebuild Puerto Rico’s grid in the wake of Hurricane Maria? Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk thinks so.

The renewable energy mogul tweeted on October 5, “The Tesla team has done this for many smaller islands around the world, but there is no scalability limit, so it can be done for Puerto Rico too.”

The governor of Puerto Rico, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, responded, tweeting “Let’s talk. Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies? PR could be that flagship project.”

Following that initial conversation, the two had a 25-minute phone call over the weekend, according to USA Today, where Rosselló continued to express interest in teaming up to find a solution through renewable energy. “I told him because of the devastation, if there is a silver lining, we can start re-conceptualizing how we want to produce energy here in Puerto Rico and distribute it and do it in a more reliable fashion,” Rosselló told USA Today. “It was a very positive first step.”

Tesla has already shipped hundreds of their Powerwall batteries to the island territory to help with the ongoing power outages, which could last for up to six months. Batteries and the search for cutting-edge technological storage solutions have made headlines recently as the global capacity for installed renewable energy continues to grow.

What potential might storage have for insulating communities against the brunt of natural disaster? We asked Solar Energy International (SEI) Instructor to weigh in. Kelly Larson is on SEI’s campus in Paonia, Colorado this week instructing 301L: Solar Electric Lab Week (battery-based).

“Community resilience is crucial. All of our communities need to be able to respond in an emergency whether it’s a place for medical attention or clean water,” Larson said. “Batteries are a part of that because they can provide stored electricity for emergency needs.”

As for the recent spotlight on storage? “Renewable energy is used intermittently,” Larson explained. “As we move forward with renewable sources of energy we have to be able to store it for use at any time.”  

Interested in learning more about battery-based photovoltaic (PV) systems and microgrids? Sign up for one of our upcoming online courses today! SEI will be offering PVOL203: PV System Fundamentals (Battery-Based) and PVOL303: Advanced PV Multimode and Microgrid Design starting November 6.

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GRID Alternatives Colorado and Solar Energy International Empower Women in Solar

Last month, GRID Alternatives Colorado (GRID) and Solar Energy International (SEI) joined together to engage more women in the solar industry.  Both GRID and SEI recognize that women continue to be underrepresented in the solar workforce and are committed to developing and leading job training programs that provide women with pathways to access technical careers in the solar industry.

In August, SEI and GRID kicked off their partnership with GRID’s second annual We Build Retreat in Fort Collins, Colorado.  The retreat brought together forty-five women from around the country to start construction on the 1.95 megawatt Coyote Ridge Community Solar Array – the largest built in GRID’s history – and to participate in service learning for those interested or working in solar-related careers. The event brought participants together to build with their hands, but also build a framework for women to thrive in the renewable energy industry.

The We Build Retreat is a signature event that expands on the existing efforts of both GRID Alternatives and SEI to support women in the solar industry. The solar industry is rapidly expanding, representing one out of every fifty new jobs added in the U.S. with women representing 28% of the solar workforce according to the 2016 National Solar Jobs Census.  

For Vicky Mandell, Board President of GRID Colorado, We Build was a special example of GRID’s mission in action. Vicky told the group how the support of women had provided her with opportunities to grow throughout her career. “GRID wants women to succeed in the solar industry,” said Vicky.  “Through GRID’s Women in Solar Program, our organization is working to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive solar industry that includes pathways to technical careers for women.”

Solar Energy International (SEI) sponsored the retreat through their Solar Ready Colorado effort which provides SEI’s PV technical training to Colorado residents in the solar industry. SEI is committed to extending professional development opportunities to women employed or interested in the solar industry and offered scholarships to five attendees of the WE Build Retreat. The scholarships enable recipients to participate in SEI’s online or in-person solar technical training courses. Scholarship recipient and GRID volunteer Erica Cook said “The scholarship will allow me to further my solar education. This will open more doors for me as a woman in construction so that I can better support my family and continue to help improve my community and the lives of the people that reside there.”

GRID Colorado and Solar Energy International plan on continuing their partnership to support the more than 72,000 women in the solar industry. Kathy Swartz of SEI said of the partnership “Since SEI’s founding in 1991, we’ve supported programs and scholarships to get more women into solar and encourage the diversification of the industry. As Executive Director of SEI, it’s my honor to continue to expand these opportunities with partners like GRID Alternatives.”

 

 

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