With a growing number of people being made redundant, taking the opportunity to learn a trade is becoming more attractive.
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Trainees who complete solar photovoltaic electrical courses will be best placed to take advantage of opportunities in the renewable energy industry.
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In news that will interest those looking to take solar pv electrical courses, the Court of Appeal has today ruled that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) acted unlawfully over planned cuts to the feed-in tariff (FIT).
The Department for Transport’s indicated that it’s keen on rolling out a network of electric car charge points – a move that could create thousands more jobs for skilled solar, electric and renewable contractors.
Train now and make sure you’re in the front seat for the rev in renewables with our electric, renewable and solar PV training courses.
The Green Deal’s set to create a £6.5 billion-a-year market in green technology and retro-fitting. And the sector skills council for the construction industry has advised small to medium sized businesses, as well as individual tradesmen, to get training now so they can bid for and win their share of lucrative Green Deal contracts.
Careful preparation and planning must be undertaken by an installer before a solar PV panel system can be fitted onto an average domestic householder’s rooftop. Most general advice tends to focus on issues such as type of silicon cell panels, power rating to meet the household annual requirement and to also consistently generate sufficient electricity, roof direction and pitch, shading from nearby buildings and trees, etc.
The above mentioned items are indeed, absolutely vital to ensure the selected photovoltaics system is specified and fitted correctly to obtain maximum benefit. However, there are a number of other practical installation issues and potential problems to be addressed before an array may be allowed to be physically attached to a rooftop surface.
Installers of solar panel technology must have fully completed and qualified on approved and nationally recognised City & Guilds /BPEC/NICEIC solar PV courses or solar courses, verified up to mandatory levels 2 and 3.
In other words, legitimately competent to carry out the work to the required legal Building Regulations and Health & Safety standards. It should be noted that approved training qualifications are a compulsory requirement for eligibility to register as a genuine, competent and approved MSC installer of MSC approved solar PV systems.
With the recent news that false or misleading information has been used to persuade unwary householders to purchase solar PV systems, it is crucial that the professional industry ensures the ‘rogue trader’ element does not undermine consumer confidence and hinder the growing marketplace.
The first consideration is that a solar panel is heavy and in some instances requires two installers to physically carry and handle the fitting without incident. With a typical weight of around 20 kg, the attachment of a panel array of up to 2kWp can add around 300Kg or nearly half a metric tonne to the roof structure of an average domestic property when factoring in the weight of the mounting kit.
When inspecting the roof for statutory load bearing capability, there are likely to be some occasions when the roof load will be increased above the 15 per cent threshold for an individual roof design specification, and a structural survey will be required.
The next consideration has to be the 25 year longevity of the FeedInTariff Scheme (FiTs). The question has to asked at the outset whether the present condition of the roof is adequate for the entire 25 year period of the scheme or will renovation or maintenance definitely be required at some stage after the panels have been fitted.
The condition of the proposed roof structure naturally ties in with an assessment of the type of roofing materials themselves, that are currently in place. Some roof material categories are simply not suitable for either load bearing or taking fixings due to roof sheets cracking, prevention of condensation and thermal expansion.
PART TWO will look at some more of the actual problems that roofer installers can encounter when fitting a PV system to a rooftop.
The establishment of AbleSkills Renewable Energy Centre is specifically aimed to provide candidates of all levels of background and experience the opportunity to train and qualify at the highest standards on approved and accredited City & Guilds, BPEC, NICEIC renewable energy courses. These include essential solar PV courses and solar courses, verified up to the level of City & Guilds 2372 Level 3 Certificate in Installing and Testing Photovoltaic (PV) Systems.
Commitment to training a key renewables workforce competent to transform the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels to sustainable energy systems is now vital to meet EU emission reduction targets in the next 20 years. All construction trade personnel also now need to add to their knowledge and key skills to be able to correctly specify and install renewable technology such as photovoltaic systems, ground source heat pumps, underfloor heating, or biomass heating.
At the commencement of the training process, a short certificated renewable energy awareness course is an obligatory introduction for all students to begin their subject knowledge learning.
Approved training qualifications are a mandatory requirement to become eligible to register as a genuine, competent and approved MSC installer of MSC approved solar PV systems. This is irrespective of the fact that still there is a shortfall of renewable technology systems installers, according to SummetSkills, the sector skills council for the building services engineering (BSE) sector.
Concerned that there is “ …a worrying lack of appropriate environmental technology training to meet future demand…”, SummetSkills report that they found, “ … a ‘significant minority’ of training providers surveyed who were unaware of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), despite the recent Green Deal announcements by the government”.
Undoubtedly, this means that a number of ‘renewables’ students are now training on courses which will not enable them to apply to be MCS registered as required under the Green Deal funding scheme for householders set up by the government. From 2012, the Green Deal can make available up to £10,000, in advance, to UK residents towards helping to pay for energy efficiency work to be carried out in their homes.
It is also designed to prevent rogue traders and dangerous, substandard workmanship by untrained, unqualified personnel. The United Kingdom Accreditation Service has been formally appointed to ensure that installers and assessors will adhere to the necessary robust standards at all stages of work being carried out.
MCS installer certification involves assessing the supply, design, installation, set-to-work and commissioning of renewable microgeneration technologies and the process and standards differ for each product and installer certification. All accredited Certification Bodies will have been accredited by UKAS under EN45011.
Work prospects and the economic outlook are generally the big issues facing most building, plumbing and electrical installation candidates seeking to extend the services they can provide by adding to their knowledge and skills base.
At AbleSkills Renewable Energy Centre, solar PV courses and solar courses ( heating) are two of the key training curriculums that all candidates, whether entry level or experienced electricians can undertake to train up to levels 2 and 3 on approved and accredited City & Guilds, BPEC, NICEIC renewable energy courses. All the necessary practical knowledge and hands on skills to become fully qualified solar photovoltaic systems installers are taught by AbleSkills professional industry teaching staff.
Approved training qualifications are a mandatory requirement to become eligible to register as a genuine, competent and approved MSC installer of MSC approved solar PV systems. In addition, AbleSkills also provides a short certificated renewable energy awareness course, an obligatory introduction for all students to begin their subject knowledge learning.
According to the British Photovoltaic Association, 27,000 solar installations have been registered since the introduction of the FeedInTariff Scheme (FiTs) in April 2010. The key news for candidates seeking an effective career move with solid prospects is, of the total number of solar PV panels fitted, 91 per cent were installed on domestic rooftops, a market trend proving the clear focus is on small roof top installations. Industry analysts predict that the UK solar installations could rise to around 180,000 solar panels each year by 2015, and to over 300,000 by 2020.
There is no doubt then, the under 50kW domestic residential market for solar electricity generation is one vital area that is enjoying healthy growth, encouraged by both government and solar industry initiatives. In the recent FiTs review, the government announced that they will be changing the feed-in tariff to focus on smaller scale, roof-mounted solar installations.
As significant solar projects around the UK are announced almost weekly by local authorities and borough councils, there is also a growing awareness of the importance of green energy, recycling and the need to dramatically reduce carbon emissions on a domestic level. However, the chief motivation comes from the financial advantages which come as part of the FeedIn Tariff, which allows surplus electricity to be sold back to the grid at a rate set at 43.3p for up to 4kW retrofit projects.
However, large scale installations continue to make the news. Recently, the UK’s first solar business park was connected to the National Grid with an array of 3,000 solar panels. Over 682 MWh of electricity each year will be generated to supply nearly 1,000 employees at 20 businesses located at Howbery Business Park, Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
At Hawton, near Newark on Trent in Nottinghamshire, the UK’s largest solar power plant of 5 MW has just been unveiled. The installation covers a total area of 14.6 hectares (36.07 acres) with 21,600 modules, which will produce 4,860 megawatt hours of clean electricity, enough to supply 1,300 homes throughout the year.
Installation of solar photovoltaic systems in the domestic residential sector is enjoying a huge confidence surge! News of one of the UK’s largest solar panel schemes to date has just been announced to help ordinary housing association tenants to obtain the benefits of solar energy generation.
The government has been seen to favour the development of the domestic 2–50kW solar panel installation sector, which has led to the numbers of trained and qualified PV installers to have doubled to over an estimated 17,500. To date, some 20,000 Solar PV installations have been completed under the feed-in tariff scheme with a combined capacity of 76.66MW. It is forecast that the UK could be installing some 180,000 solar panels each year by 2015, and to over 300,000 by 2020.
While extensive local authority solar PV schemes have been recently announced around the country from Scotland to the West Country, the latest news concerns the Peabody Group, which includes London housing associations Peabody and CBHA, who have just signed off a £18.5million project for 6MW of solar panel systems to be installed on the rooftops across 25 London boroughs over the next 39 weeks.
Under the scheme, which is similar to many previous projects around the UK, residents will benefit from reduced electricity bills, while surplus income generated from solar PV panels installed on housing blocks will be re-invested by Peabody into its homes and services.
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest solar projects seen yet in the council homes sector, the residents of boroughs like Colchester and Eastbourne Borough are set to benefit from the fitting of solar energy in around 2,000 homes on the scheme, which will run until March 2012. It is also expected that other nearby local councils will follow the trend being set by local authorities from across East Sussex and the South East of England.
The schemes are helping to give a tremendous boost to the UK’s renewables initiative and to the construction industry as a whole. Many individuals are looking to improve their career prospects and are considering enrolling on solar PV courses. So they will be pleased to hear that the recent rapid take up has led to a 230 per cent year-on-year employment increase of around 17,500 trained and qualified PV installers, the majority of which is within the 2–50kW residential market.
The UK is signed up to meet the EU target to reduce carbon emission levels over the next two decades. The increased development of local authority solar projects is driving greater incentives to encourage the adoption of FeedInTariffs(FiTs), which is boosting demand for trained and qualified solar PV installers.
AbleSkills is committed to meeting the rising demand for a highly skilled ‘renewables’ workforce. At the AbleSkills Renewable Energy Centre, students are offered comprehensive training and full qualifications up to levels 2 and 3 on approved and accredited City & Guilds, BPEC, NICEIC renewable energy courses, which also include solar courses and ground source heat pump courses.
Electrical engineers and renewable contractors could soon be in high demand, as a proposed £110 billion investment to reform Britain’s energy infrastructure is set to supercharge job opportunities for skilled tradesmen.
What’s more, experts have called on the government to incentivise training for renewable professionals as the marine and wind energy industries are expected to create 115,000 new jobs over the next ten years too.