|
|
SEI's Brad Burkhartzmeyer Named IREC Certified Clean Energy Trainer of the Year
SEI is proud to announce that our very own Brad Burkhartzmeyer has been named the IREC Certified Clean Energy Trainer of the Year!
Brad Burkhartzmeyer is a highly skilled solar trainer. He's also a "solar social philanthropist." He has taught for Solar Energy International since 2009, in English and Spanish, domestically and internationally. A certified IREC Master Trainer and NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners) Certified Solar PV Installer, he also takes his personal commitment and 20-year expertise where it's needed most.
He has worked with the Solar Electric Light Fund's projects to provide power for hospitals in Africa, started a PV training program at a technical college in Haiti, and has worked with Rotary Clubs to provide clean drinking water using solar power in six rural communities in Latin America and Africa. He is a founding member of the non-profit group Remote Energy, which works directly with disadvantaged communities to develop their technical skills in solar installations. He resides in Tacoma, WA.
Read more…
SEI's Solar Ready Colorado Initiative Honored During Intersolar North America Conference with IREC i3 Awards
Solar Energy International's (SEI) Solar Ready Colorado Initiative / Career Expo and Envision360 Virtual Reality App honored at Intersolar 2017! SEI is proud to announce that our Solar Ready Colorado Initiative has received the IREC State/Local Government Achievements of the Year!
Solar Ready Colorado is a statewide effort through Solar Energy International (SEI) and industry partners to expand the activities of outreach, recruiting, and training to the rapidly growing Colorado solar industry and jobs market.
Read more about Solar Ready Colorado >>
Through industry partnerships and support from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the program provides a dedicated outreach and recruitment effort as well as technical training through Solar Energy International’s (SEI) long running, non-profit 501(c)(3) technical training program to those interested in entering the Colorado solar industry.
Envision360 is a solar recruitment program technology tool that gives students a virtual experience of what it's like to work in the solar industry, using Google Cardboard Viewers and virtual reality (VR) technologies. SEI's program, Solar Ready Colorado: Solar Professionals Training and Outreach Program and Career Expo, was funded by SEI and a matching grant from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment under the WORK Act Grant.
More info…
SEI Student Highlight: Shannon Ware
Shannon Ware is a Senior Commercial PV Designer based in St. Louis, MO. This week she traveled to Solar Energy International (SEI) to take PV351L: Tools and Techniques for Operations and Maintenance Lab Week (Grid-Direct), an intensive, advanced training designed for solar professionals already working in the PV industry who want to take their technical skills to the next level. Shannon certainly has a lot of experience in the industry. She primarily designs commercial systems, recently completing a large 322 kW DC parking structure in San Diego. In 2014, she became a NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional.
Before getting into the solar industry, she had a full career beginning with a Bachelors of Science in Ocean Engineering,followed by a stint in commercial printing and digital publishing, and then successful time in real estate sales of historic homes. After taking an interest in green home building, she grew into a larger passion for sustainability. Shannon eventually took solar training and through an influx of serendipity immediately landed her first PV installation contact.
Read more about Shannon…
SEI's Chris (Smitty) Smith Retirement Party
If you have attended an SEI class in Paonia, Colorado in recent years, you undoubtedly had the absolute privilege meeting one of the kindest and most dedicated people that has ever worked for SEI. Smitty's smile and commitment to our non-profit mission will be missed. Her retirement party was last week and was a great time, solar cooked food, friends, cake, flowers, and an amazing solar oven made by Ed Eaton. Quite a send off!! Keep on shining Smitty! We LOVE YOU!
View photo gallery….
SEI's Outreach to Active Duty Military and Veterans Continues at Ft. Carson
SEI Solar Ready Colorado Update: Kevin Sova, SEI Student Recruiter, visits the Ft. Carson job fair which was an awesome event. There have been quite a few brigades of soldiers returning from overseas in recent months with many military personnel transitioning to civilian life. Kevin also attended the Peterson Air Force Base Education Fair in recent weeks to talk about careers in the clean energy economy with air force personnel who are close to leaving the military. If you'd like more information about Solar Ready Colorado and our outreach to the many different people that would be a good fit for the solar industry.
More info about Solar Ready Colorado…
Enroll Now for August 21st SEI Online Courses
 SEI ONLINE CAMPUS OVERVIEW VIDEO >>
Online Sessions Starting August 21st!
Join SEI at the Solar Decathlon in Denver
as a Volunteer in October
Volunteers needed for The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon in Denver! SEI will be taking part in this nationally recognized event in support of our Solar Ready Colorado initiative and need your help to make the event a successful one! More info…
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition of 10 contests that challenge student teams to design and build full-size, energy-efficient, solar-powered houses. The winner most successfully blends design excellence, smart energy strategies, innovation, and market potential.
Free to visitors, October 5 – 9 and 12 – 15, 2017, at the 61st & Peña station on the University of Colorado A line commuter rail near Denver International Airport, the event features student teams providing public tours of their solar powered, energy- and water efficient houses featuring cutting-edge technologies; a sustainability expo; professional, and consumer and middle school education events.
More information…
SEI Travels to San Jose, Costa Rica for SEI Programa Hispano Solar Training Event
Team SEI was in San Jose, Costa Rica this month teaching FV101: Diseño e Instalación de Sistemas Fotovoltaicos Conectados a la Red! Brad Burkhartzmeyer, SEI Instructor and 2017 IREC Certified Clean Energy Trainer of the Year, was wowed by how great our students were in this class (that is his 'wow' face).
More info about SEI's Programa Hispano…
SEI's PV351L: Tools and Techniques for Operations and Maintenance Lab Week
SEI completed yet another fantastic training event this month with PV351L: Tools and Techniques for Operations and Maintenance Lab Week!
Couldn't make it to Paonia, Colorado for our hands-on lab? Check out our online option PVOL350: PV SYSTEMS – TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE.
PVOL350 is an advanced online training targeted towards solar professionals who want to take their technical skills to the next level. This course is geared towards training PV technicians to safely and effectively perform operations and maintenance (O&M) tasks including inspections, commissioning, performance verification, and troubleshooting. Likewise, those managing fleet operations and system data will find this course challenging and valuable.
More info about SEI's Online O&M Solar Training…
SEI Hands-on Labs are Filling Fast – Enroll Now!
Watch SEI Training Overview Video >>
If you plan on attending our industry recognized training in Paonia, Colorado this year – YOU SHOULD ENROLL NOW!
View the 2017 Training Schedule >>
or call SEI Student Services at 970-527-7657 x1
SEI Fills Solar Training Gap for Skilled Worker Shortage in the Clean Energy Economy
Solar Energy International (SEI) is teamed up with the Solar Training Network as a recognized Training Provider to address the skilled worker shortage in the solar industry. SEI's industry-leading hands-on and online trainings provide the practical skills and knowledge employers are looking for in their new hires. View our training schedule…
Andrea Luecke, Executive Director of Solar Foundation, outlined the hurdles of solar employment market well in her article for Solar Industry Magazine. "As solar takes off across the U.S., the industry is enjoying unprecedented jobs growth… bringing the total number of U.S. solar jobs to 260,077. However, there’s another side to this breakneck growth: Many solar employers are struggling to find and hire qualified candidates. We found that 84% of installers reported difficulty finding qualified applicants, and 26% reported it was 'very difficult..'
Not surprisingly, this difficulty is largely attributable to a lack of training and experience among applicants. A large majority of installers in our survey (78%) told us it was difficult to find candidates with any training specific to the open position, and 78% also had trouble finding candidates with relevant work experience."
More information about the Solar Training Network…
SEI is Offering Two In-person Classes in the United Arab Emirates – Oct. 29th and Nov. 5th
SEI is offering two in-person classes in the United Arab Emirates – October 29th and November 5th! These week-long courses take place at the RAK Research and Innovation Center, a one hour drive from Dubai. Registration is now open and spots are limited.
About SEI's PV101 Course:
PV101 is your gateway to a career in the solar industry. It all starts with the fundamentals, and a solid understanding of various components, system architectures, and applications for PV systems. Other topics include site analysis, system sizing, array configuration, and performance estimation; electrical design characteristics such as wiring, overcurrent protection, and grounding; a detailed look at module and inverter specifications and characteristics; mounting methods for various roof structures and groundmounts; and an introduction to safely and effectively commissioning grid-direct PV systems. This course focuses on grid-direct PV systems, the largest and fastest growing segment of the PV industry, but covers material critical to understanding all types of PV systems. These core concepts are expanded on in SEI’s upper level PV courses, which focus more specifically on particular system types, applications and design methodologies.
About SEI's PV203 Course:
In PV203 the focus is on the fundamentals of battery-based PV systems. The applications and configurations are many, and their complexity far exceeds that of grid-direct PV systems. Components such as batteries, charge controllers, and battery-based inverters are covered in detail, along with safety and maintenance considerations unique to battery-based systems. Load analysis is critical to system design and will also be addressed along with other design criteria such as battery bank configuration and the electrical integration of the system.
Enroll Now for SEI's Workshops at
SPI 2017 in Las Vegas – September 10-13
July 2017 SEI Solar Professionals
Certificate Program Graduates
 Congratulations to our July 2017 SEI Solar Professionals Certificate Program graduates! These students have taken at least 200 training hours from SEI!
If you would like to be considered for admission into our most rigorous solar training program click here for more information >>
Congratulations goes to:
- Joshua Ayers
- Leandro Bedoya
- LeVon Brewer
- Anthony Dixon
- Tim Rutgers
|
|
