PAONIA, CO. – The cooperative relationship between Solar Energy International (SEI), the industry-leading training organization for solar professionals, and PV design firm Mayfield Renewables goes back decades. In January 2022, the two organizations will start a new collaborative chapter by hosting two training courses developed by Mayfield Renewables on SEI’s online educational platform. The launch represents their first official educational collaboration.
SEI’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Sanderson, commented on the alliance, saying “The partnership between Solar Energy International and Mayfield Renewables represents a renewed path toward collaboration between two of the top educators in the solar industry. Time is of the essence as the devastation of climate change destroys our only home. It’s time that we focus on helping each other and avoid duplication as we tackle the important issues in front of us.”
Launching January 2022
The two new courses, NEC 2017 and 2020 Solar-Plus-Storage Requirements and NFPA 855 and Fire Code Requirements for Energy Storage Systems, are pre-recorded and self-paced. NABCEP has certified both courses for CEUs (2-hours each) upon completion.
Mayfield Renewables’ solar-plus-storage program director Justine Sanchez led the course development effort. Justine has worked with SEI as an instructor since 1998, and was a technical editor for Home Power for more than a decade.
Inspired by the renewed collaboration between Mayfield Renewables and SEI, Justine explains the driving force behind the development of the two online courses: “With the rapid increase in interest and deployment of solar-plus-storage systems, electrical, fire, and building codes require frequent updating to keep up with new markets, equipment and design innovations, and of course fire protection goals. As a result, new codes are released every three years. Along with this effort comes a push from industry stakeholders, system designers, and integrators to understand the implications these new requirements will have on the systems they’re designing and installing.”
This 2-hour Continuing Education class is an excellent pre-curser to SEI’s 6-hour courses for 2020 and 2017 NEC Code which take a deep-dive into the details of each version of the code. SEI’s courses were developed by Brian Mehalic, SEI PV Developer and Trainer with extensive experience in design and installation of over 150 systems ranging from residential off-grid to commercial grid-interactive, advising on quality assurance inspections, commissioning and troubleshooting for top companies in the solar industry.
A History of Collaboration
The earliest cross-pollination between the two organizations dates back to the early 1990s when SEI co-founder Johnny Wiess joined forces with Karen and Richard Perez, founders and publishers of Home Power magazine, to teach a solar business workshop aimed at driving the early adoption of solar power and energy independence—both of which were fringe, even radical ideas at the time.
The legacy of friendship and collaboration between Home Power and SEI has evolved and expanded over the decades. SEI instructors often contributed to the educational content in the magazine, with SEI eventually using the content to supplement their base curriculum. SEI developed a hands-on training facility in Paonia, Colorado, going on to train more than 90,000 solar professionals worldwide. Consequently, many of Mayfield Renewables’ team members either got their start in the solar industry, or advanced It, via SEI workshops and training.
Mayfield Renewables founder and current CEO, Ryan Mayfield, was a long-standing technical content contributor to Home Power. “Education has always been at the heart of everything we do.” Mayfield has developed and led training courses around the world for close to two decades.
Staffers from Mayfield Renewables and SEI are excited to work in tandem again. Together, the two organizations share a goal of expanding their collective reach and helping our industry grow responsibly, sustainably, safely and quickly.
