Welcome to the Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN) Project

 

Welcome to the Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN) Project.

As a partnership program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the California Communtiy Colleges, the Advanced Transportation Technology & Energy Initiative, the Hawaii University System, the California Energy Commission, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the National Electrical Contractors Association, and the Center for Sustainable Energy California.

The SITN identifies and supplements training resources through out regions in California and Hawaii. The SITN helps to create extensive partnership resources available to all public and colleges entities. It provides technical training for community colleges and othe public school faculty who want to improve or expand their technical capabilities realted to Solar instruction.
 

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GRID ALTERNATIVE INSTALLATION OPPORTUNITY FOR CCC PV CLASSES
California and Hawaii, Region 8, SITN Program

The California-Hawaii Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN) program and GRID Alternatives are cooperating to provide real-world, hands-on PV installation opportunities for California community college (CCC) students and faculty.  GRID Alternatives has generously agreed to host 6 community college teams at diverse locations around the state to work on actual installs during the Fall 2013 semester.   These installations are considered “real” in that they are recognized as experience toward employment and various entry and advanced certifications for students and faculty.  The SITN grant will support this training by reimbursing GRID Alternative for its fees and expenses.  No funding is provided to the college; all payments will be made directly to GRID Alternatives. 

GRID Alternatives is a non-profit solar installer which leads teams to install solar PV systems exclusively for low-income households. Each GRID Alternative installation can accommodate 10 students (or students plus instructor if the instructor also participates in the hands-on activity). The typical installation is of 2 days duration; approximately 8 AM to 4 PM. Additional details are provided below. 

One of the selection criteria for collections will be location.  Our intent is to allow regionally diverse Community Colleges and GRID Alternative regional offices to work together, while avoiding over-concentration in any one office or region. 

APPLICATION PROCESS AND CRITERIA

Lengthy proposals are neither required nor desired. We suggest that proposals be limited to 5 pages, though this is not a firm requirement. Supplemental material such as pre-existing curricula, graphic or pictorial displays or testimonials can be extra, but are not required.
A cover letter signed by a Dean or higher level Administrator indicating applicant college support for the proposed participation is required. It should also include confirmations that:

• the college maintains appropriate liability insurance for classes conducted off-site. 
• a PV installation course will be provided in the Fall 2013 semester to utilize this installation experience should the college be accepted for this opportunity.

This letter is not counted as part of the suggested page count.

Applications should contain at least three sections:

• Prior Experience with PV Installation training at the applicant college.
• Description of how the Grid Alternative on-site training would integrate with existing college PV course(s) and a description as to how you expect this GRID Alternative experience will benefit your students. Prior experience with GRID Alternatives should be cited (but is not part of the selection criteria).
• Tentative plan as to how students would be transported to and from the Grid Alternatives site.   

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Applications are due on or before 5 PM, Monday, July 3, 2013.  Proposals should be sent to Gerald Bernstein, Principal Investigator California-Hawaii Region, SITN program, gbernste@ccsf.edu. 

Questions on this grant program should be sent to the same email address.  Questions will be answered directly, but subsequently questions and answers will be posted for all applicants here.

APPLICATION REVIEW

The review team consists of the SITN region 8 management team and Grid Alternatives managers.  Selection will be based on the review team’s assessment of the applicant’s application and geographic location.

Notices to applicants will be sent on or before August 1, 2013 so that this activity can be included in Fall 2013 semester planning.  If successful, this program will be repeated in the next calendar year (2014).

GRID ALTERNATIVES AND PROGRAM DETAILS

GRID Alternatives was founded in 2001.  They have installed more than 8.5 MW of solar power for over 3000 families.  Based in Oakland, GRID Alternatives has 7 dedicated regional offices serving all of California.  Colleges will be paired with their local Grid Alternative office to finalize arrangements for the installation opportunity.

GRID Alternatives provides a 2 hour volunteer orientation that must be attended by all participants prior to working on one of their projects; this can be provided on campus at the convenience of the college. This orientation can accommodate up to 50 students.  Coordination and scheduling will be done by the GRID Alternatives regional office Volunteer Training Fellow and one assigned representative from the college. Colleges should require each attendee to complete a GRID Alternatives’ online volunteer application at (http://www.gridalternatives.org/volunteerapp ) prior to attendance of the orientation. Instructors should provide a final list of attendees and their contact information to GRID Alternatives in a timely manner before the orientation and any installation day.  The students who participate each day can be changed, though all participants need to comply with the above orientation and application.
 

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Spanish-Language PV Installer Mini-Grant Program
Region 8, California & Hawaii, SITN Program

California Community College Spanish Language PV Installer Mini-Grant
In order to help support improvements in Photovoltaic (PV) training at California’s Community Colleges, the DOE-funded Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN, administered by the CCC Chancellor’s Office) has developed a series of “mini-grant” programs.  This notice is prepared to announce the availability of funds to support development and pilot teaching of a Spanish-language PV installation course. 
 
This program is created to increase employment prospects for individuals who have basic construction and/or electrical skills, but who have not had an opportunity to supplement these with PV-specific  training due to language barriers.
 
This grant will pay for faculty time to teach, or to develop and teach a PV installation course in the Spanish language. Each applicant is asked to briefly identify and describe the target audience, pre-requisites, course duration, course content, and learning outcomes they believe to be appropriate for their situation. Proposals as Word or pdf documents are due June 3, 2013.  Proposal review and selection will be completed as quickly as feasible following the due date so that colleges with successful applications can implement their planned courses during either Fall 2013 or Spring 2014 semesters. Courses can be new or pre-existing, and can be taught on a regular or pilot basis, for credit or not-for-credit. Participating colleges who have not completed their instruction by June 3, 2014, risk losing funding unless their Spring semester ends later.
 
Total available funding for the grant program is $56,000. The maximum award to any one college will not exceed $14,000. We anticipate four awards will be funded at this time.  Following this current request for applications, DOE funding may be available to allow additional grants to be awarded over the next two years. Separate solicitations will be sent in this case.
 
This notice has been distributed to instructors who participated in prior training activities; however applications are not restricted to these instructors or colleges. This document may be freely forwarded.
 
APPLICATION PROCESS AND CRITERIA
Lengthy proposals are neither required nor desired. We suggest that proposals be limited to 5 pages, though this is not a firm requirement. Supplemental material such as pre-existing curricula, graphic or pictorial displays or testimonials can be extra, but are not required.
 
A cover letter signed by a Dean or higher level Administrator indicating applicant college support for the proposed grant-funded class is required. This letter is not counted as part of the suggested page count.
 
Applications should contain at least five sections:

• Prior Experience with PV Installation training at the applicant college; prior experience (if any) with Spanish language classes with technical education content.
• Target audience, Recruiting plan and Prerequisites.
• Description of the Proposed Training (Duration, Content, & Learning Outcomes)
• Proposed Faculty.
• Requested Funding.  Budget included.  (Note:  This grant will fund texts and similar learning materials, but not equipment such as PV panels or system components.) 

APPLICATION SUBMISSION
Applications are due on or before 5 PM, Monday, June 3, 2013.  Proposals should be sent to Gerald Bernstein, Principal Investigator Region 8 SITN program, gbernste@ccsf.edu. 
 
Questions on this grant program should be sent to the same address.  Questions will be answered directly, but subsequently questions and answers will be posted for all applicants here.

APPLICATION REVIEW
The review team consists of five professionals most of whom are Spanish language proficient: one from a small PV installer, one from a large installer, one from a PV equipment manufacturer, one community college faculty member and one member of the CA-HI SITN management team.  Funding decisions will be based on the review team’s assessment of the applicant’s ability to deliver on schedule, proposed approach, learning outcomes, prior experience with Spanish language instruction, and overall viability of the proposed course. Notices to applicants will be sent on or before June 19, 2013. 
 

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California Community College
IREC-ISPQ Accreditation Support Program

In order to help support training improvements at colleges with Photovoltaic (PV) programs, the DOE-funded Solar Instructor Training Network (administered by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office) has developed a “mini-grant” program.  This program is designed to support IREC-ISPQ accreditation of up to five (5) colleges in the California Community College system.  During its first two years of existence, the SITN training program provided entry-level PV instruction to almost 200 faculty in California colleges and high schools.  Our current focus is on upgrading the variety and quality of solar instructor training, and we believe that helping colleges obtain IREC-ISPQ accreditation will support this.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) supports a variety of credentialing programs for individual instructors and training institutions to assure development of a quality and competent workforce in the clean energy sector.  IREC credentials assure that the accredited institutions’ programs follow job task analyses prepared by industry subject matter experts in a variety of renewable energy, energy efficiency and distributed generation fields, as well as following appropriate administrative procedures.
To many in these industries, IREC-ISPQ (Institute for Sustainable Power Quality) accreditation represents the “gold standard” for training organizations.  It provides a marketing advantage by demonstrating a college’s commitment to establishing and meeting high standard to employers, the public, possible students and potential funding partners.  Specifically, our IREC-ISPQ mini-grant program proposes to pay (or reimburse the participating college) for the initial application fee, onsite assessment travel costs, two years of subsequent annual renewal fees, and (if the SITN grant remains in place) the final two years of annual fees for the 5-year accreditation cycle.  On a similar basis, we propose to pay the equivalent fees for up to 2 instructors seeking affiliated Trainer or Master Trainer certification.  Fees in support of institutional accreditation to be paid by the SITN program should total approximately $5000 - $6000 per mini-grant, while those for instructor certification should total up to $1000 each.

Proposals are due April 22, 2013.  They should be sent to gbernste@ccsf.edu.  Proposals should assume that the letter of intent and a complete application will be submitted to IREC-ISPQ by December 13, 2013.  This timing is under control of the applicant; it is recognized that subsequent events (IREC-ISPQ’s desk assessment and onsite assessment of applicant colleges) are outside the control of the applicant college.  Funding awards will be announced by May 10, 2013.  Participating colleges who have not achieved IREC-ISPQ accreditation by May 1, 2014, may be dropped from this program.

Proposals should contain the following five items:

• Background and commitment of applicant to PV training.  Briefly described the history of PV training at your college.  Statement of commitment to continuing training for at least 4 more years (duration of the ISPQ accreditation) by a Dean, Vice-Chancellor, or Chancellor. 
• Identify resources for the ISPQ application process.  Identify who will be responsible for what tasks.  Identify the portion of time available to work on the application.
• Description of the process for reporting on the progress of the ISPQ application to the SITN program.  A monthly letter by email will be adequate for this purpose.
• Process for reporting on benefits of accreditation (as applicable) to the SITN program after one year from accreditation date.  A brief letter report by email will be adequate.
• (Optional).  Proposed Affiliated and/or Master Trainers seeking certification.  Identify individuals and provide a summary of their work and teaching experience; this should not exceed a half page each.

Details of what is entailed in the ISPQ application process can be found at the IREC website, specifically http://www.irecusa.org/irec-programs/credentialing/ispq/key-docs/ .  The Candidate Handbook and Application Form links are specifically recommended, though an applicant should be familiar with all the documents on the page. Proposals should not exceed five pages in length unless there is detail in an Appendix that an applicant wishes to have considered (at the option of the reviewers).

Questions on this grant program can be sent to:
Gerald Bernstein 
Principal Investigator for the Region 8 (California & Hawaii) SITN 
gbernste@ccsf.edu 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

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Downloadable content/reports:
- Best Practices Manuals by IREC - Aug. 21, 2012

- Best Practices in PV Instruction - Oct. 25, 2011