Thanks to SEI AmeriCorps VISTAs, Delta County becomes second smallest County in the U.S. to receive prestigious solar-friendly designation

Solar Energy International (SEI)’s AmeriCorps VISTAs helped pave the way for Delta County, Colorado to receive a Gold designation from the national SolSmart program for making it faster, easier, and more affordable for homes and businesses to go solar. The initial Bronze designation in 2017, also a VISTA-led effort, recognized Delta County for taking measurable steps to encourage solar energy growth and remove obstacles to solar development. The prestigious Gold designation recognizes further efforts and milestones, including completion of a solar project within the County using the State’s commercial property-assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing tool and a permitting and inspection training for local municipalities held by Delta County and SEI.

SEI is located in Delta County, and SEI AmeriCorps VISTAs have been working since 2015 on economic revitalization through solar efforts, including launching Solarize programs, creating a Solar in Schools High School Program, and championing the passage of C-PACE in the County.

The designation was announced in Paonia, Colorado at the Engage Energy Conference, and in Delta at the Forum for Coal-Reliant Communities put on by the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). SEI then led a tour for the forum participants at the Paonia campus, where officials and representatives from local governments were able to discuss options for encouraging economic development through solar market growth in their communities.

More than 200 cities, counties, and small towns have achieved SolSmart designation since the program launched in 2016, but Delta County’s designation is especially impressive in that it is the second smallest County in the U.S. to receive the recognition. The actions taken by Delta County, its local installers, and its municipalities will help encourage more solar business in the area, driving economic development and creating local jobs.

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Solar Energy International (SEI) attends 11th annual Southern Colorado Construction Career Days

This past month Solar Energy International (SEI) was invited to attend the 11^th annual Southern Colorado Construction Career Days in Colorado Springs.  The mission of Construction Career Days is “To provide a venue for young people to explore the variety of career opportunities available in the construction industry upon graduation from high school. To host a day of hands-on experiences, to enable them to interface with expert contractors throughout the region. We encourage volunteers from all the trades in the construction industry to be enthusiastic and provide job specific training to the young people attending the workshop.”

Student Services Advisor Kevin Sova spent the day talking to students about careers in the solar industry, the latest solar technology, training opportunities with SEI, and provided a solar water pumping and shade analysis demo.  This year’s Career Day was attended by over 600 local 11^th and 12^thgraders and was a HUGE success with perfect weather to show how solar works!

Are you interested in joining the clean energy workforce? Check out our training schedule, our online campus kicks off our next session of classes on November 6!

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Climate-related catastrophe is omnipresent, take action NOW with Solar Energy International (SEI)

On Monday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report that reveals the severe impact of climate change may be experienced well within the lifetime of the general world population, if dramatic policy changes don’t happen fast.

How fast? To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, the report recommends that greenhouse pollution should be reduced by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, and 100 percent by 2050.

The report reverberated across social media: politicians, scientists, environmentalists and concerned citizens alike joined in a collective cry for much-needed change, with the focus on where we’ve gone wrong. Headlines blared and red flags raised about an impending doom, and understandably, there has been much more fear-raising than presented solutions or praise for positive steps forward.

But what the media outlets have left out in lieu of sounding the alarm, is that climate-related catastrophe is already here. Much of North America experienced a record-breaking heat wave this summer, wildfires fueled by ideal conditions ravaged the U.S. West, and the death toll climbed to at least 3,000 in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico a year ago.

Although climate-related natural disasters are omnipresent in our reality, we should not accept this as a fact of life. Every human life on this planet is deserving of a safe environment to thrive, and the technology exists to stave off the growing threat of even more severe disaster, if we join together to make the change.

When 20,000 people remained without power 10 full months after Hurricane Maria, many residents turned to solar power for energy independence after the storm ravaged the island’s grid. Solar-powered buildings became a lifeline.

And there is still an infinite amount of potential to explore beyond existing technology, because our planet is overflowing with passionate people with groundbreaking ideas to take our existing solutions to the next level. Every solution we could possibly wish we had exists already on this earth, in the minds of heroes currently tapping into, or striving to tap into their potential. We must elevate their voices, we must create and share the tools necessary to help each other explore our biggest ideas.

That is what we strive to do every day at Solar Energy International. We believe in a world powered by renewable energy, and we believe that is achievable by empowering you. You, with the crazy-huge ideas. You, who may have left a different career path to see what the solar industry is all about. You, reading this article on the SEI website because you took initiative to learn about solar technology and spread it even further throughout your network.

This week, we have over 300 students enrolled in online classes, and 22 students on campus for our last PV201L: Solar Training- Solar Electric Lab Week (grid-direct) of the year. Students from all over the world: U.S., Nigeria, Russia, St. Vincent, Colombia, Barbados, Bahamas, Australia, and South Africa. During introductions, people shared why they came to SEI: because of the impact of hurricanes, climate change, and because they want to help their countries.

Solar has stepped up to the plate as an emerging and necessary technology amid impending and present disaster due to climate change, but so have you. Thank you for taking the initiative to grow your solar training, to improve the lives of others, and to take responsibility for the fate of our collective existence on this planet. Keep working to elevate and encourage the ideas of others, and we will, too.

Are you ready to learn more about renewable energy or to join the clean energy workforce? Check out our full training schedule, or enroll in our next session of PVOL101: Solar Training- Solar Electric Design and Installation (Grid-Direct)-Online.

Our online campus kicks off another session on November 6 and spots are filling fast. Course offerings include:

PVOL101: Solar Training- Solar Electric Design and Installation (Grid-Direct)-Online

SHOL101: Solar Thermal Training- Solar Hot Water Design and Installation- Online

PVOL202: Solar Training- Advanced PV System Design and the NEC (Grid-Direct)- Online

PVOL203: Solar Training- PV System Fundamentals (Battery-Based)-Online

PVOL206: Solar Training- Solar Business and Technical Sales -Online

PVOL303: Solar Training- Advanced PV Multimode and Microgrid Design (Battery-Based)- Online

PVOL350: Solar Training- PV Systems-Tools and Techniques for Operations and Maintenance – Online

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Are taking advantage of SEI’s job board?

SEI’s job board can help employers find qualified employees, and help job seekers find opportunities in the solar industry

Did you know that SEI has trained over 60,000+ people from all over the world on solar energy?  Did you also know that SEI hosts an exclusive job board that only our 60,000+ alumni can view?  If your company is looking to add an SEI trained professional to your team, please consider hosting your next job opening on SEI’s job board!  Check out the job listing previews at https://www.solarenergy.org/careers-job-board/ (You cannot view full job posting without alumni log in credentials).

Employers: To have your solar job posted send, at minimum, the name/location of your company, job description, and contact info for potential employees to SEI@solarenergy.org .  Your company’s job opening will be hosted for all SEI alumni to view for 90 days; you may resubmit after 90 days.  In the hopes of bringing professionally trained solar personnel in contact with great solar companies looking to hire, this service is completely FREE for both employers and alumni!

Alumni: For those alumni seeking jobs, don’t forget to regularly log into your account at https://solarenergytraining.org/course/view.php?id=402 see the latest job postings.  To get full access to SEI’s exclusive employer job openings, you must be a student/alum with SEI and received your alumni login credentials via email at time of original training.  If you didn’t receive your alumni login credentials or have forgotten them, please contact student services at SEI@solarenergy.org with your full name.

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Solar Forward: The importance of empowering community groups to “be the change” they want to see in their energy future

Solar Forward is on a mission to bring Solar Energy International (SEI)’s industry-leading solar expertise to communities throughout Colorado looking to kickstart solar markets. We are so excited to see solar growth efforts are ramping up in Gunnison County. As the school year gets underway, our program partners are starting their planning process for a Solarize program which is slated to reach the entire County.

The Solar Forward program empowers community groups to implement solar growth initiatives in the regions in which they are located. In the case of Gunnison County, two graduate students at Western Colorado State University are overseeing and implementing a Solarize program as their capstone project, with SEI’s Solar Forward Technical Adviser as their mentor.

This model is so important to ensure the sustainability of local solar market growth. By simply empowering program drivers in communities with tools and expertise needed to foster a strong solar market, Solar Forward is able to catalyze grassroots solar movements throughout the state which are able to stand on their own, and grow following the end of their year of solar consulting. This model also encourages local job creation and economic development.

Solar Forward Program Manager Mary Marshall traveled to the City of Gunnison last week, where she met with the Solar Forward partnered program coordinators. Thursday night she attended a potluck and brainstorming session, organized by the program coordinators. In attendance were community stakeholders, potential program volunteers, and local installers. Discussions for up to two hours followed the dinner and ideas abound about the potential of the upcoming Solarize program.

The next day, Mary sat in on meetings with an area installation company, and then walked the program coordinators through how to use the Solar Forward toolkit. Here is her takeaway from the trip:

“Experiencing the energy of people looking to grow solar in their own communities is my favorite part of the Solar Forward program,” she said. “It’s so important to us at Solar Forward to share the ongoing story of partnerships to celebrate their successes and inspire future innovative partnerships. This program is truly about YOU: the communities across the state and the people in them who want to make a change. We are just here to save you time, and to empower you with knowledge based on our experience so you can be the driver in your own community. I like to end every conversation by conveying the fact that I love to talk about this program, and am constantly open to taking any questions people might have about it. Let’s keep moving forward!”

Mary can be reached at mary@solarenergy.org or at 630-607-4352.

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SEI Mourns the Loss of Ed Marston, Former Board President and Champion of SEI

By Kathy Swartz, Executive Director

I remember the day so clearly. We were gathered together and brainstorming SEI’s vision statement, and Ed Marston said, “What about ‘a world powered by renewable energy’?” And the room became quiet. It was perfect—visionary and simply stated. It’s with great sorrow that I share with you that Ed Marston, long-time board president and SEI champion, died last Friday, August 31, 2018. He died of complications from West Nile. Back in April, we almost lost him to a heart attack and a multiple bypass surgery. We thought we had more time with him, but we lost this great man to a tiny mosquito. Ed earned his PhD in solid-state physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1968, and was a physics professor before he and his wife, Betsy, and children Wendy, 4, and David, 2, moved to Paonia in 1974. He switched to journalism, founding two papers and becoming publisher of the weekly North Fork Times, 1975-1980, and Western Colorado Report, 1982-83, when it was folded into High Country News. He always worked with his wife, an editor who continued as his working partner. In 1983, he became publisher of High Country News, which continues to cover the West for its 35,000 subscribers who live all over the country. He held that writing and administrative post for 19 years until 2002, when he retired. Ed was our champion and a fierce defender of the West’s birthright of public lands, of local empowerment, and disruption of any kind, including energy. Never an ideologue, he’d often talk about how he heated his home with a coal furnace with locally mined coal. Community was so incredibly important to him. Ed joined our board in 2010 and was our board president from May 2012 through March 2017. As a student of the human condition with insatiable curiosity, he loved listening to our students share their stories and would joke how they, like him, couldn’t hold a career. After introductions, Ed would paint the 30,000-foot picture. He would weave together Topsy, the elephant that Edison electrocuted, the local marijuana industry, the decline of the nearby coal mines, electric utilities and the disruptive power of renewables. Sometimes we, the staff, would cringe—where is he going with this?—but he always brought it together in the inspirational way that only Ed could. Ed led us through the turbulent times of 2012 when SEI almost went out of business. Ed, as a new Board President, and I, a new Executive Director, both stepped into our roles at the same time. Ed was a generous mentor with so many of us, myself included, and with our Americorps VISTAs. We would often have tea together and he challenged me to think bigger, even when we didn’t agree on the direction SEI should go. Our meetings, like his class talks, were circuitous and inspirational, but often days or months later, the gems of wisdom that he shared would find their way into my thoughts. Ed was incapable of thinking small, and had an amazing sense of humor and an easy, infectious laugh.  About a year ago, Ed asked if, when he died, if the memorial could be at SEI. We were incredibly honored that he asked. Even Ed, as wise as he was, didn’t fully understand the impact that he’s had on thousands of people,  many of whom will be coming to his memorial on Friday, September 7 at 2pm. To accommodate everyone, it’ll now be at Delicious Orchards in Paonia. To Betsy, his wife of 52 years, and David and Wendy, we send our love. We are incredibly fond of Ed, and grieve his death. Ed, we miss you… Kathryn Swartz, Executive Director Solar Energy International (SEI)

 

More SEI Team Members Remember Ed Marston In the past year, Ed sent out an incredibly “Ed-like” holiday card. On the back was this poem, Things to Think Think in ways you’ve never thought before. If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message Larger than anything you’ve ever heard, Vaster than a thousand lines of Yeats. Think that someone may bring a bear to your door, Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose Has risen out of a lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers A child of your own whom you’ve never seen. When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about To give you something large; tell you you’re forgiven, Or that’s it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that it’s Been decided that if you lie down no one will die. – by Robert Bly “Ed was one of the most insightful persons I have ever met.  I will miss his sense of humor and genuine concern for everyone he came in contact with.” -Ken Gardner, Vice President of the SEI Board of Directors, and Instructor “It must be a tough day at HQ in Paonia. Ed was a visionary and I am sure the entire community of Paonia and beyond will celebrate his life and contributions. I look forward to hearing more stories that are ‘Ed-like.’ Sadly, I only spoke with him a few times, though I was aware of his work from reading High Country News before I ever attended SEI. Sending loving thoughts to SEI, HCN, Betsy (his wife) and all in the North Fork Valley.” -Roger Williams, SEI Curriculum Developer and Instructor “How hugely ironic, unjust and unexpected that a man of such great physical and mental capabilities should be laid low by something microscopic.  What a wakeup call to each of us to live each day to our fullest capability and lie down each night knowing we had done the best we could that day, but vowing to do better the next. I write this through tears. 30 years ago,  I consulted with Ed about a small non-profit business I was starting.  He challenged me to be more thoughtful about what I wanted to do, to use more head not just heart, and to plan carefully.  I did some of the things he suggested, but not others.  He did not dismiss me because I chose my own way (which was not always successful), but continued to support and encourage me.  When he recruited me to join the SEI BOD, I asked, why me?  He said he thought I could bring some non-profit leadership experience to the Board (this from someone who had lead High Country News for decades and raised a lot of money to support it!). This time, I tried to follow his guidance more carefully.  I have contributed to SEI’s – both Board and staff – understanding of what a well-managed non-profit organization should look like.  And as this highly respected organization moves into the world of seeking support from philanthropic institutions, it is well prepared to be most successful.  Ed was the spark.  I just helped fan the flame. While I have not seen him as much of late as I did when he was President of the SEI BOD, I enjoyed our occasional exchanges.  Oh how I will miss them!  There is a huge hole in our community.  My heart aches with sadness.  Too soon, Ed, too soon. With love and sympathy to Betsy and the family.” -Sarah Bishop, SEI Board Director “I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn about Ed Marston’s death. When we served together as board members at SEI, Ed always acted in what he saw were the best interests of SEI as an organization, never with a personal agenda. His honesty and forthright approach were always appreciated in meetings and beyond. SEI, the West Slope, and the American West have lost a good person who was a unique and valuable treasure.” -Don Phillipson, former President of the SEI Board of Directors “I really respected Ed for his way of thinking, his insightful words, and his overall kindness to everyone I ever saw him speak to. I will miss his openings at the SEI classroom very much. They always left me with something to think about. I am very sorry for his loss.” -Karo Fernandez, SEI Curriculum Developer and Instructor

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SEPA report predicts the rapid growth of solar+storage: SEI classes can help you get an edge on this emerging market

This week, The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) released its 2018 Utility Energy Storage Market Snapshot. According to SEPA, the report delivers “unbiased analysis and figures based on verified interconnection data from over 130 US utilities.” This year’s Utility Energy Storage Market Snapshot covers the expanding applications of energy storage and key market trends.

Here are some of the key take-aways from the report, based on reporting done by Solar Power World:

• U.S. utilities interconnected 216.7 MW, 523.9 MWh of energy storage to the grid across a total of 2,588 systems in 2017. By the end of the year, cumulative deployed energy storage had reached 922.8 MW, 1,293.6 MWh across 5,167 systems nationwide.
• In 2017, residential energy sotrage accounted for 13.3 MW, 29.3 MWh; while non-residential added 59 MW, 139.7 MWh; and utility supply reported 144.4 MW, 354.9 MWh.
• The Advancing Commonwealth Energy Storage (ACES) initiative in Massachusetts has provided $20 million in funding for 26 storage pilot projects.
• Storage technologies are being deployed in demonstration projects across a wide range of applications including aggregated behind-the-meter batteries, stand-alone deployments for ancillary services and load shifting, traditional-battery hybrid power plants, non-wires alternatives and as the key asset of a microgrid.
• Behind-the-meter battery storage customer offerings are of key interest to utilities, 64% interested, planning or actively implementing an offering. Green Mountain Power is leading the charge with two pilots: a Tesla Powerwall and a Bring Your Own Battery.
• Solar+storage projects are rapidly emerging across the United States as the costs decline and utilities leverage the capabilities these systems can offer. Salt River Project is testing a solar+storage project for smoothing intermittent renewable generation, while the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative now has a solar+storage system that provides fully dispatchable solar power.

So what’s the best way to keep up on this new market trend? SEI offers multiple different storage-centered classes ranging from battery basics, to advanced microgrid design.

PVOL203: Solar Training-PV System Fundamentals (Battery-Based) is a great place to start. In PVOL203 the focus is on the fundamentals of battery­-based PV systems. The applications and configurations are many, and their complexity far exceeds that of grid­-direct PV systems. Components such as batteries, charge controllers, and battery­-based inverters are covered in detail, along with safety and maintenance considerations unique to battery­-based systems. Load analysis is critical to system design and will also be addressed along with other design criteria such as battery bank configuration and the electrical integration of the system.

In more advanced battery training, we also offer PVOL303: Solar Training- Advanced PV Mulitmode and Microgrid design (battery-based) and PVOL304: Solar Training- Advanced PV Standalone System Design (battery-based).

Our most intensive offering of battery-based training is our Battery-Based Photovoltaic Systems Certificate track. This track has 6 required courses. The recommended training progression is: PV101 or PVOL101 > PV203 or PVOL203 > PV201L > PV301L > PV303 or PVOL303 > PV304 or PVOL304.

To learn more about the trainings we offer, to inquire further about the Solar Professionals Certificate program, contact the Student Services Team at sei@solarenergy.org or call 970-527-7657 x1.

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