New certifications seen boosting energy sector

Rhode Island has a new job certification for a “renewable energy professional,” intended as a step toward making the state more attractive to businesses in the energy sector.
“This clarifies and defines who can do what on solar-electrical or solar-thermal job sites,” said Chris Kearns, R.I. Office of Energy Resources’ chief of program development, of legislation recently approved by lawmakers. “There have been disputes when it comes to installation.”
The new regulations were developed through collaboration among the Rhode Island Builders Association, the New England Clean Energy Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 99, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training and the Office of Energy Resources, said Kearns.
“This legislation removes barriers for renewable energy companies that want to set up shop in Rhode Island,” said Kearns. “Under the previous regulations, if you didn’t have a licensed master electrician on your staff or board, you weren’t supposed to advertise that you could do renewable energy work.”
The new legislation, which Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee signed into law, allows a person or company with a renewable energy professional certification to advertise its services, as well as to do some of the work related to installation of solar-electric or solar-thermal systems. Those related services include distributing modules to the installation site, taking photovoltaic panels to mounting racks and installing ground and rooftop support brackets.
“We supported this because, obviously, we want to see more jobs in renewable energy – that’s the driving force of this legislation,” said Joe Walsh, membership development coordinator for IBEW Local 99. “It’s not about union or nonunion. Jobs are good for everybody.”
Elements of the new law were carefully considered because of public-safety implications, said Walsh.
“Originally, these installations were all electrical work. Then there was consideration by DLT as to how much of the work is electrical and how much is labor,” he said. While a layman might not think that carrying solar panels requires an electrician, there’s more to the work than is initially apparent, said Walsh.
“The panel is producing electricity while you’re carrying it, as soon as the sun hits it,” said Walsh. “One photovoltaic panel may only be 40 volts, but when they’re tied together, there’s more of a concern.”
With the renewable energy industry making gains across the U.S. and around the globe, Rhode Island needed these revised regulations to remain competitive, said Dave Caldwell Jr., vice president of Caldwell & Johnson, custom builders based in North Kingstown.
“What we had were 20th-century regulations that were appropriate at the time. Now we have to make sure we have regulations that are appropriate for the technology we’re employing,” said Caldwell, whose company emphasizes energy efficiency and green building techniques.
“The nature of technology has changed. Ten or 15 years ago you had to create, engineer and build a photovoltaic system from soup-to-nuts,” said Caldwell. “Today, PV systems come in a box and we call it plug-and-play. Under the previous law, only a licensed electrician could touch those PV systems,” he said.
Solar roof shingles are one of the advances in technology that made some of Rhode Island’s previous regulations outdated, he said.
“It’s a photovoltaic roof shingle that’s new technology. It’s been out about two years and it works great,” said Caldwell.
“We would not be competitive in installing photovoltaics if only electricians could do it,” he said. “We have to put less of a financial burden on the consumer. The cost of renewable energy is dropping and the more it drops, the more we install and the more jobs we’ll create.”
The previous requirements made solar installations in the state cost prohibitive and discouraged statewide solar deployment, said Faye Zuckerman, Chafee spokeswoman. “The changes to the law eliminate overly burdensome requirements while maintaining high solar-installation safety standards,” said Zuckerman.
“Additionally, these changes will reduce the cost of doing business for solar developers in the state and make renewable energy more affordable,” she said.
The new law includes similar changes for the installation of solar thermal systems used for hot water, which are currently less in demand, but still a viable portion of the growing solar-energy industry.
Under the new guidelines, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training will have the authority to issue a certificate for the designation of “solar thermal professional,” in addition to renewable energy professional.
“I have five residential projects for solar hot water. It can be very cost-effective,” said Chris Warfel, president of Entech Engineering, a renewable energy designer and installer based on Block Island.
“I support these new regulations,” he said. “Rhode Island was pretty regressive about this and I think this brings the state more in line with the national practices, on average.
“With some of what we call plug-and-play installations, I’ve heard that some electricians don’t want to be involved, because it requires roofing skills they don’t have,” said Warfel.
“Look at states that allow other trades to work on these systems. They have more-robust solar programs,” he said. “These new regulations will bring more business to Rhode Island because you can team up with a combination of different skills.”
It will likely be a few months until the certification for renewal energy professionals is developed and available to those in the industry, said Kearns.
“We’ll get input from stakeholders in the renewable energy community over the summer and OER will collaborate with DLT on the certification requirements,” said Kearns. •

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