The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday announced that the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) will serve as the National Administrator for the Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN).
IREC will receive up to $4.5 million of funding over five years to administer the program. Through the work of the Training Network, DOE expects over 1,400 instructors will be trained across the nation, creating the capacity to train thousands of workers for the solar installation industry.
IREC is a non-profit organization based in Latham, New York. Throughout
its 28-year history, the organization has been instrumental in
rulemaking for connecting distributed power to the utility grid,
workforce development, consumer protection, and stakeholder
coordination. IREC provides credentialing programs to assess
instructional quality and took the lead in forming the North America
Board of Certified Energy Practitioners.
DOE selected the IREC to serve as the national point of contact for the Training Network, conducting outreach to disseminate its products and best practices recommendations. It will manage the Training Network's collaboration, coordinate its joint activities and work with a broad set of stakeholders to prioritize and address issues related to solar training.
The Solar Instructor Training Network was launched with $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding in October, 2009, to address a critical need for high-quality, local, and accessible training in solar system design, installation, sales, and inspection. The network includes nine Regional Training Providers that extend coverage to the entire United States. The Regional Training Providers support the professional development of instructors who provide instruction on solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar heating and cooling installations. The SITN will also collaborate and develop national curricula, sponsor workshops, create replicable training models for local instructors, and develop best practices
More information on the Solar Instructor Training Network is available at the link below.
