As the solar market continues to thrive both in the U.S. and on a global scale, the spotlight has increasingly been on energy storage. Whether it’s the attention from Tesla’s promise to build the world’s largest lithium ion battery in Southern Australia that made industry and mainstream news headlines alike, or the recent conversation on how storage can impact the grid in the wake of natural disasters, there’s no denying that batteries have become a renewable energy hot topic.

At Solar Energy International (SEI), it is an ongoing priority to keep our solar energy training aligned with the trends of the ever-changing solar industry. This is why we are so excited to announce that after months of extensive research, technical brainstorming and collaboration, the SEI Curriculum Development Team is ready to reveal a comprehensive update to our PV203 Battery-Based Fundamentals course. The updates were made to reflect changes in available technologies and code requirements in the fast-growing energy storage market.  

“SEI’s curriculum development team undertook the PV203 course update to ensure that our students are confident and well-educated on the latest technologies as they explore these new opportunities,” SEI’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Sarah Wilder, explained.

Highlights of curriculum updates include:

  • Battery bank sizing examples for lithium chemistries, including upfront and lifetime cost calculators for different battery chemistries
  • A new “modes of operation” lesson discusses new options for energy storage systems such load-shifting and peak load/demand shaving
  • New equipment on the market such as the Tesla Powerwall and Enphase’s AC battery
  • 2017 NEC language and requirements for energy storage systems

“At SEI we know that the energy grid of the future will look very different from the energy grid of the past. All across the world, storm-related power outages continue to dominate news headlines while at the same time, new energy storage solutions are becoming cheaper, safer, and more readily available for both small and large-scale systems,” Sarah explained.

Stay up-to-date with the most important industry topics and start your battery training with SEI. The next online session of PV203: Solar Training- PV Fundamentals (Battery-Based)  starts January 8th, hunker down for the winter and learn about energy storage!