SEI currently licenses the following curriculum:

• PV101: Solar Training – Solar Electric Design and Installation (Grid-Direct)
• PV202: Solar Training – Advanced PV System Design and the NEC (Grid-Direct)
• PV203: Solar Training – PV System Fundamentals (Battery-Based)
• PV303: Solar Training – Advanced PV Multimode and Microgrid Design (Battery-Based)
• PV304: Solar Training – Advanced PV Stand-Alone System Design (Battery-Based)

Solar Energy International licenses its curriculum to public universities, community colleges, and technical schools in the United States. Currently, we do not license to for-profit or international institutions.

We encourage all instructors who will be teaching to complete SEI’s Solar Professionals Certificate Program. At a minimum, we require that all instructors who will be teaching any of our curricula go through either our online or in-person training of that curriculum so that he/she is familiar with how we teach before teaching it.

Colleges who license curriculum qualify for discounts on the Solar Electric Handbook.

Each curriculum includes the following:

• Dynamic and animated Power Points presentations with clear instructor talking points and notes
• Product spec sheets and calculation exercises for real world applications.
• Quiz banks with rigorous assessment questions and details answers
• All Curriculum is documented with learning outcomes and aligned with industry standards

Our curriculum, including assessments, has been reviewed by industry experts and instructional designers. The curriculum is for in-person training only.

Our normal licensing agreements are based on an annual fee, which varies depending  on what an organization needs, how large an organization is, how long they want to  license curriculum, etc. As a non-profit organization, we strive to keep the price  affordable, especially when compared to what it takes for an organization to develop its  own curriculum. To learn more, please complete our questionnaire or contact us at 970-527-7657.

Our normal curriculum licenses are for one to three years in length, depending upon the contractual agreement.

Solar Energy International licenses its curriculum to universities, community colleges, and technical training schools in the United States. We do not license to for-profit institutions. We require that all instructors who will be teaching any of our curricula go through either our online or in-person training of that curriculum so that he/she is familiar with the content before teaching it.

No. Though SEI’s curriculum is IREC accredited, according to IREC’s policies, the accreditation does not transfer between SEI and the organization. To learn about IREC accreditation, go to http://www.irecusa.org/irec-programs/credentialing/ispq/how-to-apply/

No. Organizations that want to administer the NABCEP PV Associate Exam must become a Registered Provider, per NABCEP’s policies. For more details, go to http://www.nabcep.org/

No, SEI’s curriculum is protected intellectual property.

There are currently no national standards for who can teach solar (believe us, we’ve seen it all when it comes to the lack of standards for training). We’ve seen trainers who have read a book to people who have only installed 1 or 2 systems without training. It scares the heck out of us, as it should the industry.

SEI holds high standards for who can teach for us. For example, SEI requires that an instructor be a working PV professional with 3 years or more of full-time experience in the PV field, NABCEP certified PV installer or currently working towards certification, previous educational experience, etc. We then go through a rigorous training process.

We encourage educational institutions that are interested in training to pursue the ISPQ accreditation for training programs. To ensure continuity, consistency, and quality in the delivery of training, the Interstate Renewable Energy Countil (IREC) is implementing the Institute for Sustainable Power Quality (ISPQ) framework of standards and metrics to provide a means to compare content, quality, and resources across a broad range of training programs covering renewable energy, energy efficiency and distributed generation technologies. This international framework ensures legitimacy of what’s being taught and by whom. For more details, go to http://irecusa.org/.

Our curriculum licensing takes the place of an instructor guide.

Contact Lisa Niermann at 970-527-7657, ext. 200 or lisa@solarenergy.org. Together, we’ll work through the details. Once we have a signed contract and payment, SEI will provide you with log-in details to download the curriculum.

Contact Elizabeth Sanderson at (970) 527-7657, ext. 207 or esanderson@solarenergy.org and she can create a custom training package based upon your needs.