The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) announced revised eligibility criteria for the PV Installer Certification. Effective January 14, 2012 all applicants who are not accepted for the March 2012 exam will be required to meet the new standards. Any candidate who is currently eligible to re-take the exam will not be required to reapply.

The major changes in the eligibility requirements concern the amount of training required and the number of installations that applicants must document. All candidates will now have to document fifty eight (58) hours of PV specific training. The minimum number of installations has increased from two (2) to three (3) for all tracks except Track A where five (5) installations will be required. The full eligibility criteria can be found on NABCEP’s website here.

Ezra Auerbach, NABCEP’s executive director says, “The revisions are being phased in to ensure fairness to candidates who have been approved to test under the current criteria.”

Don Warfield, NABCEP’s chairperson says, “The revisions that were approved by our Board of Directors on December 12, 2011 incorporate a considerable amount of the input that was presented during the public comment phase of this revision process. We are grateful to our stakeholders for their participation in drafting these changes and believe that these revisions are reflective of a broad consensus.”

NABCEP wishes to remind all potential candidates for the March 2012 PV Installer Exam that the application deadline is January 13, 2012. Applications received on or before this deadline will be reviewed under the existing standards.