Wrenches,a colleague of mine is looking for feedback to the following email he
received regarding PV installers and electrical work. I have responded to him,
however, I am quite interested to hear this list's response....
LETTER--'Colleague' - next week Alberta’s “major municipalities” electrical
chief inspectors are getting together to talk about issues. One item I have
asked to put on the agenda is qualifications of solar installers. I hope to see
a start on forming some type of agreement on is who is qualified to do what
work on a solar installation and what is considered electrical work that only
electricians can perform. There seems to be courses popping up all over to
teach everyman to be a solar installer, but what work is clearly reserved for
electricians to do? The Safety Codes Act speaks to Electrical Systems, CE
(Canadian Electrical) Code defines electrical installation and electrical
equipment. What I hope we accomplish is a stance we can take to the EIAA
(Electrical Inspectors Association of Alberta) conference then to
Apprenticeship and Industry Training who ultimately enforces who does work in
the trade. To me the PV module racking can be done by anyone, but almost all
of the rest of the installation – from wire pulling to interconnecting modules,
mounting of the inverters etc falls clearly into the scope of practice for
electricians. One of the bigger players in the industry is saying “its now
getting to be all plug and play” and anyone can be an installer. Hoping an
agreement like this can make it a level playing field and consistent across the
Province. What are your thoughts?
BACK TO MEmy thoughts are similar to the ones above, that the racking alone
can be installed by any 'properly trained' person. However pretty much every
other aspect of a PV install directly falls under the scope of an electrician
and needs to be preformed by a journeyman or apprentice under the supervision
of a journeyman electrician.
the following paragraph is from recent past EIAA technical conference minutes.
"Alberta Municipal Affairs (AMA) was asked (earlier in 2009 by a Municipality)
for an opinion on the Permit Regulation regarding Homeowner Permits. The Permit
Regulation states a homeowner may be issued a permit where the electrical
system serves that dwelling. A photovoltaic system that is tied to the grid
(utility interactive) serves other than that dwelling. The response back from
AMA confirmed utility interactive PV systems do serve other than the dwelling
and as such permit issuers should not be issuing homeowner permits for utility
interactive PV systems."
My thinking is that this would include the addition of 'plug and play'
modules/inverters to an existing system as well ...any comments on this one?
cheers,benn
DayStar Renewable Energy Inc. b...@daystarsolar.ca780-906-7807 HAVE A SUNNY DAY
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