Solar Training - Introduction to Photovoltaic Systems

Course Dates:
Current Class: March 16 - August 14, 2009
Next Class:  September 8, 2009 - February 10, 2010

 See more details below the video

Location
JobTrain
1200 O'Brien Drive
Menlo Park, CA 94025
 

Counselor
Carlos Mercado
(650) 330-6467
cmercado@jobtrainworks.org

Length of Training
10 weeks

Days/Time
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Entry Requirements
JobTrain Orientation, basic English language skills, basic math assessment (test), basic computer literacy assessment. Must have a level of physical fitness and agility necessary to work daily outdoors on a pitched roof, with the ability to balance, lift up to 70lbs while easily climbing a ladder. Due to the intensity of this course only 2 days can be shorted (absent) before an automatic drop occurs (300 contiguous hours of instruction).
 

Skills to be attained
Participants will gain technical skills and a strong foundation of how to safely install Grid-tied photovoltaic electrical systems in the Bay Area. Participants learn construction & design skills as they relate to PV Installation. This course starts out with the very basics of photovoltaics (PV) and incrementally accelerates students to a real photovoltaic installation.

Topics Include
•  Basic Construction Skills: including power drill & bits, hand tools, torque wrench, wire strippers, roofing pry bar, black jack
•  Safety – ladder, roofing, electrical, First Aid & Red Cross certified CPR
•  Roofing introduction to multiple roof types for PV stand-offs & racking
•  Basic Electricity – Simple DC Theory; AC Theory single split phase and 3 phase wiring, circuitry
•  PV & Electrical Trade Practices – including DC wire, routing & strings; AC (L1, L2, L3); Balance of System Components (BOS) – roofing & racking hardware; fused DC combiner and shut off boxes, grounding (wire, lugs, rods & weeb), Main Panel components (breakers) and more.
•  Inverters: Commercial, residential, micro, wiring & network monitoring
•  Referencing of NEC 690 & CEC
•  FINAL Examination: writing a PV permit for a generic AHJ w/CEC

LAB
Roofing & PV Installation labs (off-site and on-site)
Preparation for the Lab will include:
AC interconnections, net metering, PV instruments analysis
Solar site analysis: insolation & shading analysis for PV design

Career Opportunities
The Solar Program is designed to prepare participants for employment as a Photovoltaic Installer in the Bay Area and the broader PV industry in California for design & installation.

Value Add
Electricians, roofers & general contractors will learn design for solar. Engineers will learn installation techniques. Entry level participants will learn PV design & installation

Accreditation
Fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC).

Related Links

•   Skills to be attained