September 29, 2011 (Clifton Park, NY) – The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) is pleased to announce the release of the revised and updated Job Task Analysis (JTA) for its Solar Heating Installer Certification. The JTA is the result of a collaborative process undertaken by a group of thirteen subject matter experts that volunteered their time and knowledge. It was then validated through an online survey process, to which more than 100 solar heating installation professionals responded.
Ezra Auerbach, Executive Director of NABCEP, says, “The JTA is a core element of any certification program and regular updates are necessary to ensure that the credential offered is based on most current best practices and technology in use. The JTA we are releasing today was developed in accordance with certification industry standards and, as such, continues to ensure the relevance of the NABCEP Solar Heating Installer Certification.”
Along with the release of this JTA comes a name change for the credential from Solar Thermal Installer to Solar Heating Installer. NABCEP Board Director and co-chair of the Solar Heating Technical Committee Les Nelson says, “This name change reflects the actual work done by NABCEP certificants in the field today, and helps clarify that these individuals have demonstrated knowledge of the various skills required to safely install solar heating systems. Over the last decade, solar thermal has come to mean large-scale solar heating projects designed to produce electricity. NABCEP Solar Heating Installer Certification reflects knowledge of the skills required to install smaller-scale distributed solar heating technologies. This name change will help avoid confusion between these different applications of solar heat technologies.”
The JTA is available on the NABCEP website at Solar Heating Installer JTA.