NABECP

[Gunnar Alquist]

Has anyone heard of the NABECP? North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners is apparently an association of solar installers (it took me a bit of looking through their website to find out what NABCEP actually stood for). Apparently, not just PV install and design certification, but also inspection certification. It looks like they have a reasonably large number of members nationwide.


I was wondering if this was a legitimate organization with stringent requirements and high-quality education or if this is just another bogus certification. Online, it looks pretty good, they have required CEU and a test to become "board certified", CEU requirements to maintain certification, online education, as well as an upcoming conference.


I had not heard of them before last night and was wondering if anyone has any first-hand knowledge or is a member.

[ROBERT YOUNG]

Morning, Gunnar.
I had never heard of the NABECP until you started this string.

NABECP (https://www.nabcep.org/). Developed by subject matter experts for industry professionals, our U.S.-based certifications are built on rigorous standards and ongoing research to meet the real-world needs of customers, businesses, utility companies, and governmental organizations. With a NABCEP Board Certification attached to your name, you can work in the renewable energy industry anywhere around the globe.

Thank you for bring this Certification Board to our attention.

Best regards.
Robert Young

[david shapiro]

I took a NABCEP-qualifying class on PV inspection and then passed their test, earning the qualification. It seemed rigorous, though the remote-proctored test, with a remote, hard-to-see NEC, created significant discomfort. What does this say about NABCEP? Dunno. The class used John Wiles's 2014 text, as i recall, but the test was on the 2017 Code. Nonetheless, better an authority like John Wiles than a gentleman who publishes endlessly on all sorts of electrical topics by cutting and pasting.

[ROBERT YOUNG]

I took a NABCEP-qualifying class on PV inspection and then passed their test, earning the qualification.
Morning, David.
Hope this post finds you well.

First off, congratulations are in order. Bravo. Well deserved.
David, seeing photovoltaic (PV) systems are composed of one or more solar panels, in combination with an inverter, plus other electrical and mechanical hardware, have you had many chances to put your certification to work inspecting residential home and commercial property or is this more of an industrial investigation. As well, what tools are required?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Robert

[david shapiro]

Hi, Robert.
Thank you for the kind words. I had the opportunity to use it when a Third Party Inspector in my IAEI chapter, one who does a fair bit of PV inspection, planned to move out of the DC-suburbs part of Maryland and offered me his referrals. However, i was not interested in shifting back to TPI at the time. Since COVID, My wife and I have been hunkering down. I'm starting to think about whether to shelve my contractor card, since I don't see myself doing further installations, and go to active TPI status; or whether to continue consulting as a contractor, saying "This is what I notice, and this is what i do, and why; but get someone else to do it."