Is the Cost-Effective DIY Solar Panel Within Reach?
Homeowners trying to save money on their electric bill and take advantage of tax credits by buying and installing solar panels may run into one major setback: It can, quite literally, take an advanced degree to install rooftop photovoltaics. A new AC pane If you wanted to train to be a solar photovoltaic panel installer at the absolute finest institution nationwide—the Ivy League school of solar installation training—where would you go to learn? That question, posed to industry experts at the recent PV America trade show, generated a unanimous response: The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, or NABCEP. There, an aspiring installer can earn the only national professional certification available for solar-thermal and solar-photovoltaic work. Graduates have mastered such concepts as sizing an inverter to properly convert the panels’ DC power output into usable AC power, as well as how not to get killed when working with live 400- or 600-volt wiring. But as solar-panel
