Solar PV installation course, back by popular demand!

December 27, 2010

Second Course Offered in Installing and Maintaining Solar Electric Systems
Facilitating Local power and Local jobs, from the Sun

A solar photovoltaic (PV) training course is being offered to contractors by the group SEEDS (Sustainable Energy Education & Development Support). It will run from Wednesday, March 25 to Friday, March 27 at the Park Street Complex in Honesdale, PA (former Stourbridge School). This three-day course is limited to15 attendees, and will run from 9 am to 4 pm with an hour for lunch. The cost will be $175. To register, interested persons may call 570-224-0052.
This is the second solar PV course being offered by SEEDS due to popular demand. The first course in January was quickly filled with a waiting list.
The course will include siting, sizing, installation techniques, codes, NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Professionals) certification requirements, use of the Solar Pathfinder and its accompanying software, grid-tie and off-grid systems, and much more.
The instructor will again be Roy Butler, owner of Four Winds Renewable Energy in Arkport, NY. He holds a PV (photovoltaic) certification by NABCEP, and is a NYSERDA (New York Energy Research & Development Authority) eligible installer of wind and PV grid tie electric systems in NY State. He has more than 12 years of design and installation experience, covering grid-tie, and off-grid wind electric, solar electric and solar water pumping systems. He has installed over 200 renewable energy systems for home, farm and industry.
Butler is on the NABCEP Technical Review Committees for PV and wind installer certification, and a technical editor for Home Power Magazine. When he is not out designing and installing renewable energy systems for Four Winds, Butler is teaching at Ulster County Community College, Alfred State College of Technology, and at many workshops throughout the nation.
SEEDS is also implementing a mentoring program for solar PV graduates to obtain hands-on training under a certified installer. The group is also planning a solar hot water or thermal course for May.
“We are sponsoring all this training to ensure local jobs for local people in the renewable energy industry,” says SEEDS chair Michele Sands. “Unstable energy costs and unstable availability make renewable energy training a win-win choice for our community. We really need local people to install and maintain these systems.”
SEEDS is a local non-profit corporation committed to developing a renewable energy infrastructure and promoting more sustainable living in our area. The group is in the process of filing for federal non-profit 501c3 status. To further its aims, SEEDS is working with Penn State extension offices in Pike and Wayne, the Wayne Conservation District, the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council of the US Department of Agriculture, the Pike Wayne Conservation Partnership and the Northeast Pennsylvania Audubon Society.
Since July of 2008, SEEDS has sponsored a series of public forums on Wind, Water Power & Conservation, Forest Fuels, Energy Auditing for Home and Farm, Solar, Geothermal, Do-It-Yourself Energy Efficiency, and PPL’s Smart Metering program.
For more information about SEEDS courses and forums e-mail us at SEEDSGroup@gmail, or call Michele at (570) 224-0052.