California solar forum announced for code & fire officials, builders, solar installers

 

New electric and fire codes and standards for solar safety

 
 SHARE             
 
 
As solar installations continue to grow exponentially, there is an increasing need for other professions to know more about solar technologies, both for safety and quality assurance. A half-day training session at Intersolar North America on July 12 in San Francisco is one in a series of national forums on solar codes and safety specifically for local building planners and inspectors, architects, builders, solar installers, and others who will benefit, including fire officials.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) is presenting the forum with the International Code Council's Solar Rating & Certification Corporation, the National Association of State Fire Marshals and the International Association of Electrical Inspectors, which together represent a wide range of code officials and building and electrical inspectors. The forum is scheduled in conjunction with Intersolar North America.

"If market growth in the solar sector is to continue in a safe and sustainable way, quality workforce solar training for these allied industries is imperative to enhance their expertise and add to their professional development toolkits," said IREC President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Sherwood. "The latest updates to the building and electrical codes include many important changes that affect the safe installation of PV systems."

National solar code and technical experts will discuss the most recent code updates and their impact on code officials and other professionals. Included will be the most recent changes to the 2017 National Electrical Code and 2018 International Codes solar requirements and adoption considerations, including rapid shutdown, grounding, energy storage and structural requirements, such as roof venting, roof load and mounting systems. The impact of code changes to first responder safety, and other solar code training opportunities, will also be discussed.

The forum, which includes opportunities for CEUs for code officials, is at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Pacific, on July 12.

As part of a program called STEP (Solar Training and Education for Professionals), funded by the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative, IREC and its partners have created a number of training resources for allied professionals whose jobs require some knowledge of solar technology. In addition to in-person training opportunities, such as this one in San Francisco, web-based interactive video training is also available, with free online training courses for code officials PV Online Training for Code Officials and firefighters Solar PV Safety for Firefighters Online Course.