According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the solar industry's national trade association, the U.S. solar energy industry and its supply chain support about 46,000 jobs in the U.S. Also, despite the overall economic downturn, particularly in the housing and construction sectors, employment in the solar industry increased by 10,000 jobs from 2008-09 and by 17,000 jobs in 2009.
And there is equal opportunity for growth in the form of billions of square feet of rooftop surface area available for installing photovoltaic (PV) systems, which means roofing professionals can capitalize on this potential new revenue stream. However, there is little regulation within the PV industry regarding rooftop installation.
As Jeff Henegar, general manager of Firestone Energy Solutions, a division of Firestone Building Products Co. LLC, Indianapolis, puts it: "The PV market is like the wild, wild west where the rule of law was not always in force."
A growing industry
There are many factors contributing to the solar sector's growth despite overall contraction of the U.S. economy.
SEIA's U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review 2009 reports prices for PV modules fell more than 40 percent in 2009 and the average installed cost of a PV system fell about 10 percent from 2008-09. Although the addition of 429 megawatts of grid-tied capacity in 2009 represents a 38 percent increase from 2008's cumulative level, it falls far short of the 84 percent increase experienced in 2008. However, private investment totaling $1.4 billion in 2009 and federal and state solar policies contribute to continued confidence in solar energy's future.
On the federal level, the Bureau of Land Management is responding to the need for clean, affordable domestic energy supplies by facilitating the use of public lands for solar energy projects, particularly in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah where solar radiation can be harvested at higher-than-average levels suitable for creating utility-scale solar power.
More important, provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) support PV industry development with the goal of rapidly accelerating widespread commercialization of solar technologies. Of the $32.7 billion of ARRA funds appropriated to the Department of Energy (DOE) for contracts and grants, $115 million went to the Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP)—a project of DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Through diverse SETP initiatives, DOE is endeavoring to better understand solar electricity's effects on the reliability and stability of the U.S.' electric power system while seeking to reduce market barriers and promote market adoption of solar energy. It does this by offering multimillion dollar grants funding research into the development of performance models, advances in PV cell and manufacturing technologies, and various other strategies targeted at making solar electricity cost-competitive (referred to as achieving grid parity) by 2015.
In addition, DOE has partnered with 25 Solar America Cities that are developing a comprehensive approach to facilitating the mainstream adoption of solar technology. DOE also funds certification of PV system installers through the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and is investing $27 million, including $10 million in ARRA funds, to develop a national network of training providers to address the need for accessible training in PV system design, installation, sales and inspection.
Regardless of whether solar electricity can achieve grid parity by 2015, state and regional energy policies are expected to play a key role in the PV industry's expansion in the short term. Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia have renewable portfolio standards, also called renewable electricity standard policies, requiring utilities to generate or purchase a certain percentage of their retail electricity sales or generating capacity—generally, 20 to 33 percent—by a specified year.
In addition, many states sponsor rebates and local utility rebates are offered periodically.
A dilemma
As the solar industry expands and more homeowners and building owners install roof-mounted PV systems, several issues have become increasingly apparent.
"There is a lot of interest in PV, but there are few standards and codes guiding PV installations on roofs," Henegar says.
Henegar also describes a situation illustrating other common problems with roof-mounted PV system installations: Two weeks after a major southern California retailer had 150,000 square feet of fully adhered TPO membrane installed on its roof, a solar integrator installed a PV array on the roof. After the PV array installation was complete, the TPO membrane exhibited several black areas consistent with foot traffic, and in some of those areas, the membrane had detached from the insulation. Also, part of the roof was crushed and the TPO membrane was damaged from PV panels that had been dragged across it.
Yann Brandt, vice president of corporate development for Advanced Green Technologies, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says end-users often experience problems, particularly roof leaks resulting from poorly flashed penetrations, when roof-mounted PV systems are installed by people who aren't trained and experienced in roof asset management.
"After a solar installation, issues sometimes arise that can interfere with a building's primary use and diminish an installation's expected benefits," Brandt says. "Excessive penetrations and poor penetration flashings can cause leaks, and if a PV system needs to be shut down to fix the roof, that stops energy production. Also, an incompatible solar installation can cause a building's structural failure when the building is not able to handle the weight."
Roof-mounted PV systems add new loads to roofs, such as increased weight and added heat from ultraviolet rays. And the financial effect of repairing leaks and other damage may dramatically increase when uninterrupted power generation is required by a power purchase agreement, a long-term agreement in which a developer finances a PV system (sometimes leasing rooftop space for the installation) and sells the electricity generated to a utility company at an established rate per kilowatt hour.
These issues are part of a large dilemma facing the solar industry: a lack of PV system installers who know how to properly install the systems without adversely affecting roof system performance or service life.
To face this dilemma head-on, Henegar and Brandt are members of a task force that has developed a credential for solar roofing professionals—the Certified Solar Roofing Professional (CSRP) designation—which was launched in July to help meet the need for certified installers in the quickly expanding solar industry.
The RISE CSRP
The CSRP designation is a voluntary certification for professionals who plan and oversee the installation of roofmounted PV systems. The certification is administered by Roof Integrated Solar Energy (RISE) Inc., which was founded through a partnership between NRCA and the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing. (Detailed information about the certification can be found at RISE's website, www.riseprofessional.org.)
The CSRP designation was created to provide a means of certifying solar roofing professionals based on their knowledge about properly installing and maintaining rooftop solar energy systems without adversely affecting roof system performance or service life.
RISE is governed by a board of directors composed of key stakeholder representatives from the roofing and solar industries who have a working knowledge of successful rooftop solar installation and maintenance. The board worked with professionals in relevant fields to develop the CSRP credential, which identifies dependable and consistent criteria for evaluating expertise in the solar field.
To be eligible for the RISE CSRP, an applicant must be at least 18, meet RISE's prerequisites of related experience and training or education, complete an application, sign a code of ethics and professional conduct, and pass a written exam. The applicant also must demonstrate he or she meets at least one of RISE's three eligibility tracks, which consist of:
Those wishing to achieve CSRP certification should review the CSRP Job Task Analysis, exam specifications and sample questions to assess readiness to take the exam. The application, which can be RISE's website, must then be completed and sent to RISE. If an applicant meets the program requirements, he or she will be eligible to take the CSRP certification exam. The first CSRP certification exam will take place in December.
Those who achieve the certification will receive a certificate and be entitled to use the RISE CSRP certification mark.
CSRP certification is valid for three years; once certified, a person must meet the published standards, policies and requirements for ongoing recertification to renew his or her certified status at the end of the three-year period.
It should be noted the CSRP credential is not intended to guarantee an individual is suitable for employment. Rather, the credential is intended to encourage practitioners to enhance their skills and stay abreast of developments in the field.
Seizing opportunity
John Geary, Firestone Building Products' vice president of marketing and chairman of the center's board of directors, believes only a small minority of roofing contractors have capitalized on opportunities associated with PV systems to date but those opportunities will steadily increase as the cost of solar-generated electricity and installed costs decrease throughout the U.S.
"It's not a huge shift for roofing contractors to move into the solar arena; what's different is the sales cycle—it can be two to four times longer," Geary says. "But PV installations provide a great opportunity for commercial and residential roofing contractors. Learning about PV installations early will give them a foothold in the market and help them take care of their customers by providing new products they may be interested in."
He also says educating end-users about roof-mounted PV installations is important, and a certification for individuals who install roof-mounted PV systems is critical to providing a comfort level for building owners wishing to install PV systems on their roofs in the future.
According to NRCA President Allen Lancaster, president of Metalcrafts Inc., Savannah, Ga., "One way NRCA can assist members is to develop a method to show the competency of roofing contractors who want to be involved with emerging technologies, such as PV."
A roof-mounted PV installation overseen by a CSRP ensures the project is managed by a credible professional who understands the integrated roof system and PV system from the deck up and knows what is required for a successful installation.
Individuals who achieve the CSRP designation are likely to benefit from even greater employment opportunities in the future—and so will their employers. The 2010-11 edition of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Career Guide to Industries indicates voluntary certifications, such as the CSRP, provide tangible evidence of knowledge to employers and consumers and enhance job prospects.
A smart investment
The Department of Labor recently added PV system installers to its database of standard occupations as a Green New and Emerging occupation. For visionaries who want to be on the leading edge of the solar industry, obtaining the CSRP credential is a smart investment.
Jeanne Schehl is the RISE CSRP program director.
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