American Solar Energy Society (ASES) – nation’s leading association of solar professionals and advocates provides solar industry news and resource information.  www.ases.org

Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) – a non-profit resource primarily geared to utility companies, but also provides value to ALL businesses with interest in solar electricity. www.solarelectricpower.org

California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) – non-profit organization dedicated to “Greening the world”.  Good resource site for information about climate change, energy efficiency, green buiding, renewable energy, and transportation.  www.sdenergy.org

Renewable Energy World –   Great resouce site for daily solar industry news, but also a good job search website.  www.renewableenergyworld.com

SolarPro Magazine - arguably the best solar magazine in the industry providing excellent overall solar industry information, and includes a discussion forum component.  www.solarprofessional.com

‘homepower’ Magazine – Provides excellent overall news and information articles for the solar, wind, and hydro industries.  www.homepower.com

Solarbuzz – Excellent resource for world solar energy news headlines, solar industry events, research projects and consultancy services.  www.solarbuzz.com

Solar Today Magazine – An American Solar Energy Society magazine that also provides industry news and events information , but is also a good solar jobs search site.  www.solartoday.com

Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) - a non-profit consortium of electric, natural gas and nuclear utility companies, and their associations, that formed to help utilities work together to develop solutions to the coming workforce shortage in the utility industry.  Their mission is to develop tomorrow’s energy workforce, and their website provides news and events and Knowledge Center articles relating to workforce needs.  www.cewd.org

North American Board of Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) – offers certifications and certificate programs to renewable energy professionals throughout North America.  The NABCEP website offers an Installer Locator feature for locating certified installers, and also offers news and events information relating to the alternative energy industries.  www.nabcep.org

InterState Renewable Energy Council - works to ensure that renewable energy becomes a fundamental power option in communities across America.  IREC is known for tackling difficult renewable energy issues, and bringing technical and policy experts together to produce practical solutions to these issues.   The IREC website provides access to the DSIRE Informational Database, ISPQ Training Accreditation, Worforce Development Programs, news and events information and other information and services relating to renewable energy.  www.irecusa.org

Find Solar – an excellent information site for Solar Resources, Solar News, Solar Tools and calculators, state rebates, solar panels, solar maps and solar industry history.  This is a great site for comparing state rebate programs.    www.findsolar.com

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) – a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, including summary maps, summary tables and other renewable energy efficiency information. www.dsireUSA.org

ProSolar – A great site for finding information on professional solar products including PV mounting systems, structural attachments, accessories and installation guides. www.prosolar.com 

American Wind Energy Association ( AWEA) – a national trade association representing wind power project developers, equipment providers, service providers parts manufacturers, utilities, researches and other wind industry professionals and advocates.  A good site providing information relating to wind power legislation and policies, industry publications, resources and events. www.awea.org

Power of Wind – a good information website for news and events relating to the wind power industry including events and publications. www.powerofwind.com

A recent eNewsletter from Rich Hessler of Rich Hessler Solar Sales Training (PVSolarSalesTraining.com) speaks to the long-term growth potential of the Solar Industry.

According to this article, and “based on comments from knowledgeable SEIA/SEPA panelists”, (Solar Power International 2009 convention), “the consensus is we have just entered the growth phase of the industry and it should take us at least until 2030 to reach peak maturity.  Eliminating the up front cost of solar for the buyer is a major hurdle to overcome for rapid market growth.

read more at www.pvsolarsalestraining.com/about_us/newsletters.

Solar Power International 2009 has come and gone, and it looks like it was a huge success.  Over 203,000 sq ft. of floor space was sold selling out the shows exhibit space and more than doubling the show size from 2008.

Over 25,000 attendees were expected at this year’s show, and it looks to be a close call.  At our MiraCosta College booth we kept busy talking to people about our Solar PV training.  From what we can tell, there is lots of interest in Solar PV training.  The response to our booth was tremendous where the flow of traffic to our booth was consistent and, at times, even overwhelming through all three days of the show.  So much so that we will have to consider additional class dates for Solar PV training at MiraCosta College.

For all of you who stopped by to chat with us, we want to say how fun and exciting it was to meet you.  We want to thank you all for stopping by, and we especially want to congratulate our daily raffle winners.  Our $100 Starbucks gift card winners are Daniel Gonzalez, Rocklin, CA; Rod Lavamic, St. Charles, MO; and Eric Parra, Spring Valley, CA.  Congratulations to all of you…and enjoy the coffee!

You may not have known that your extension ladder is made of several different piece parts.  So in case you were wondering, we have identified these piece parts below.  In addition, we give you a few tips for proper ladder use when installing Solar PV panels on a roof.

• Tip - Very Top of the Ladder
• Fly - Upper Section of an extension ladder
• Rung – Cross members that provide the foothold for climbing
• Halyard – The rope used to raise or lower the fly section
• Rails – The two lengthwise members of the ladder beam
• Dogs or Pawls - Devices attached to the inside of the rails of the fly section used to hold the fly section in place after it is raised
• Butt or Heel – Bottom end of ladder, the end that is placed on the ground
• Footpads – Rubber swivel parts attached to the butt of the ladder

Safety Tips:

1. Never use Aluminum Ladders for Solar PV work; use fiber glass ladders only
2. Be sure to use the proper rated ladder for the type of work you are doing. The following are ANSI code duty ratings and their color codes for five types of ladders:

Type
Rated            Load Capac.      Rated Use                                 Color

Type IAA        375 lbs                  Special Duty                              Yellow

Type IA           300 lbs                  Extra Heavy Duty Indust.           Orange

Type I              250 lbs                  Heavy Duty Industrial                Blue

Type II             225 lbs                  Medium Duty Commercial        Green

Type III            200 lbs                  Light Duty Household                Red

Angle of Use

One of the more common question that pops into our minds when setting up a ladder is “What is the safe angle to use?”  The answer is to position the ladder at such an angle where the horizontal distance from the top support point to the foot of the ladder is ¼ the working length of the ladder.  For example, in the graphic below, if the height (h) from the ground point directly below the top support point at the roof edge is 12 feet (h = 12), then the horizontal distance from that ground point to the butt (bottom end) of the ladder should be 3 feet (h/4).  In addition, the ladder must always extend a minimum of three feet above the top support point where the ladder contacts the roof.

Quick facts from www.solarpowerinternational.com:

• North America’s largest business to business solar industry event
• 900+ exhibitors and an exhibit hall that includes all solar technologies: PV, CSP, solar hot water, solar heating and cooling and solar pool heating
• 25,000 + Attendees: sellers, buyers and stakeholders including manufacturers, integrators, installers, utilities, investors, builders, architects, large energy users and policymakers
• 200+ Speakers, 65+ education sessions, two CEO panels and two keynotes
• Education tracks on finance, policy, markets, technology, crosscutting and implementation/execution

The sixth edition of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s (IREC) Connecting to the Grid Guide is now available online. This guide provides a comprehensive introduction to a span of topics that relate to grid-tied renewable energy sources. The sixth edition has been revised to include information on IREC’s recently updated model procedures, alternative billing arrangements for net metering, energy storage and several other emerging issues in the field. This guide is designed for state regulators and other policymakers, utilities, industry representatives and consumers interested in the development of state-level interconnection and net metering policies.

Despite the growing demand for cleaner energy sources, there remains a lack of clarity among policies that allow those with renewable energy generation, such as solar and wind systems, to connect to the utility grid. This fact significantly complicates renewable energy installations and has likely deterred the adoption of customer-sited distributed generation. Well-designed interconnection standards facilitate the deployment of renewables and other forms of distributed generation (DG) by specifying the technical and institutional requirements and terms by which utilities and DG system owners must abide.

The report, co-authored by Laurel Varnado, policy analyst for the North Carolina Solar Center and Michael Sheehan, P.E., with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, is part of IREC’s Connecting to the Grid Project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

“Since the previous edition of this guide was published in 2007, there have been widespread advancements in renewable energy policy and technical considerations,” said Laurel Varnado. “States often update their regulatory practices based on the direction that general trends and best practices seem to be heading. This guide provides a clear look at those trends as well as the necessary background information needed to interpret them.”

While no single state has adopted comprehensive best practices, many states have added provisions that have led to an evolution of what defines best practices. This publication also discusses IREC’s model interconnection procedures and net metering standards, updated in 2009 and published on the IREC website at www.irecusa.org (waiting for actual URL). IREC periodically revises its model procedures to incorporate the best practices developed at the state level.

IREC has been a pioneer in interconnection and net-metering issues since 1997 when the first edition of Connecting to the Grid was published. Back then, fewer than 20 U.S. states had implemented net metering, and the concepts of “DG” and “clean energy” were neither widely recognized nor publicly appreciated. Today, 37 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted interconnection standards while 42 states have adopted net metering standards for DG.

The sixth edition of the Connecting to the Grid Guide is available online.   Among the important advances in interconnection procedures incorporated within the new IREC model IREC rules are:

• clarifying that third party ownership of facilities is permissible;
• raising the size of eligibility for the simplest of installations from 10kW to 25kW;
• allowing online applications;
• addressing state jurisdictional facilities over 10MW; and
• updating provisions related to network interconnections

IREC’s model net metering rules were highly influential in New Jersey and Colorado, which are widely considered to have the best net-metering policies in the United States. Following the lead of Colorado and other states , IREC’s updated rules no longer limit facility size, other than requiring that annual generation not exceed 120% of expected annual consumption.

Among the important advances in net metering rules incorporated within the model IREC rule are:

• increase the size of systems eligible for net metering;
• expansion of program capacity caps;
• meter aggregation; and
• accommodation of third-party ownership and net metered systems.

In an effort to capture the variation among states, IREC’s model rules also include footnotes that discuss the various approaches states have taken on certain issues. IREC believes this discussion will be useful to stakeholders to show areas where states have deviated from best practices.

California was the leading state with 71 people to take the exams. They were offered in 2 locations: the Bay Area (52) and Southern California (19). Texas, however, had the highest number of test-takers in any one site with 56, up from 22 in the Spring. New York also offered the exams in two locations: Farmingdale (34) and Rochester (10).

The NABCEP website provides a breakdown of the top states as follows:

• California-71
• Texas–56
• Colorado–47
• New York–44
• North Carolina–36
• Minnesota–29
• Illinois-29
• New Jersey–28
• Massachusetts–25
• Ohio-23

MiraCosta College offers its congratulations to NABCEP for its continuing success.

The results of the September 12, 2009 administration of the NABCEP Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal Installer Exams are in and the Board is proud to announce that a total of 1,048 individuals have been awarded the NABCEP Installer Certification. Don Warfield, Chairman of NABCEP says, “I want to extend my congratulations to all the successful Candidates. You’ve earned a distinction you can be proud of.”

Ezra Auerbach, NABCEP’s Executive Director says, “Achieving this milestone is a huge validation of the work that NABCEP does. The ever-increasing number of people earning NABCEP Installer Certification reflects the healthy growth of our industry. There is an expanding pool of well-trained and experienced workers coming forward to become Certified PV and Solar Thermal Installers.”

The most recent round of NABCEP Installer Exams broke all previous records for test taker participants which saw a 26% increase in Candidates over the previous test administration. The number of successful candidates also broke records, with 216 new NABCEP Certified Installer designations awarded. Mr. Warfield continues, “The number of Certified Solar Installers has risen by 38% in the last year – over 22% just in this round of exams. Clearly these numbers reflect our industry’s appetite for experienced and well-trained solar professionals who have completed a rigorous application and examination process.”

Earlier this year, NABCEP announced that more than 3,000 individuals have passed the NABCEP Entry Level Photovoltaic Exam.  This entry level exam is for workers beginning their solar careers. Over 130 groups and organizations across the country have solar training programs that offer NABCEP’s PV Entry Level Exam.

The next IREC Webinar will be held Thursday, November 12, at 2pm EST (1pm CST, noon MST, 11am PST, 10am Alaska, 9am Hawaii) on the Expedited Permit Process for Small PV Systems. The webinar will last for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Please visit www.irecusa.org to register for this free webinar.

Local jurisdictions are responsible for establishing the permitting requirements for PV system construction and installation in their territory. While jurisdictions everywhere share most of the same challenges in ensuring the safety of new PV systems, inexperience with PV has led many to implement unnecessarily complex and inconsistent permitting procedures. In some cases, time and expense is added to the project because multiple departments are required to review the same application. This severely inhibits the timely and efficient construction of PV systems.

The Solar America Board for Codes and Standards has just released a recommended permit process, Expedited Permit Process for PV Systems – A Standardized Process for the Review of Small-Scale PV Systems. This permit process was created to meet the needs of the growing, small-scale photovoltaic (PV) market in the U.S. and is applicable nationwide. It takes advantage of the many common characteristics inherent in most of the small-scale PV systems installed today to streamline both the application and approval of permits.

Bill Brooks is the author of the report and he will present this seminar.