Sparky's Life
Sparky's Life
EP 19 Overcoming Solar Hurdles and Professional Development
This episode explores the risks associated with DIY solar installations and the critical importance of professional knowledge and adherence to industry standards. We discuss the need for a Continuing Professional Development system across all trades to enhance skills, ensure safety, and improve service quality.
• Examining the dangers of self-sourced solar components
• The necessity of matching inverters and solar panels for safety
• Discussing the role and need for CPD in the trades
• Understanding the regulatory framework for solar and electrical industries
• Promoting the benefits of continual learning within the trades
• Emphasizing the importance of hiring qualified and insured professionals
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Hello everyone, welcome to Sparky's Life. I'm your host, grant Dilko. Today on the show we'll be talking about do-it-yourself solar, the point system that's required in the solar industry, the quote of the week and some nice royalty-free music to end off the show. So let's get the show started. I saw a post on Facebook.
Speaker 1:In a community notice board A person was asking if anyone knows a solar installer that can come and install solar panels, racking, inverter and solar battery. That is person purchased themselves. I would guess that this person has acquired all these parts and materials online or second hand. It does amaze me that a random, unqualified individual can purchase all these items without any questions or checks and balances. The person that placed the ad in the notice board mentioned that they have contacted most of the solar companies around town and no one was interested in the scope of works. I can't understand why. All the solar companies are interested in are the solar credits and rebates from the government. That's how they make their money. They don't make money installing equipment supplied by the client. Also, to gain the solar credits and rebates, all solar panels, inverters and batteries must be on the approved equipment list supplied by the Clean Energy Council, the CEC. So if an individual or business has second-hand equipment or purchased online themselves from an overseas distributor, there are a very good chance the products are not currently approved in Australia or they are a poor quality product. The solar installers don't have time to test and quality check customer supplied equipment and most times the customer has all the wrong equipment. These are some of the reasons why solar installers are not interested.
Speaker 1:What people don't understand? That a PV solar array system on the roof or ground mounted has to be load balanced and inverters must match the output of the solar panels. If this doesn't happen, this is when the system doesn't work at its maximum performance or doesn't work properly, and the worst case scenario is you have a burning and eventually a serious fire on the roof because everything is mismatched. I call this yum-char effect, yum-char solar. It's like a smorgasbord of everything. You cannot just bolt it all together and hope for the best.
Speaker 1:It bothers me how people are so lazy these days. They just post an ad on Facebook. Does anyone know a plumber or an electrician or a tiler, etc. Etc. You need to do your own homework. Ring a tradesperson yourself. Don't post it on Facebook. It's not that hard. You can find whoever you want on Google search, online telephone directories and the local pages, you won't find any decent tradesperson circling the drain pipe or the race to the bottom of the barrel, relying on Facebook posts for work. So don't be a tie kicker and waste everyone's time because you don't want to pay for quality work and nothing is in your budget.
Speaker 1:Hi there, I'm Grant Doolko. If this is your first time here at Sparky's Life, welcome. It's great to have you here. And if you're back here for more, welcome back and thank you for your loyalty and support. If you like what you hear on today's show, make sure you share this podcast with your mates who are electricians or who are involved in the tradie world. I want to reach out and help as many tradies as I can with this podcast and help as many tradies as I can with this podcast. I want to help tradespeople break through to the next level in their career and in their lives. To be in the solar industry.
Speaker 1:The installer and designer must complete the required annual 100 points for the CPD scheme. Cpd stands for Continuing Professional Development, hence the acronym CPD for our solar accreditation, for our solar accreditation. This allows us to continue our solar licence with the SAA, which stands for Solar Accreditation Australia. It used to be controlled by the Clean Energy Council, which was known as the CEC. To explain what CPD is, it's a method of keeping track of and recording training hours. It is also a method of keeping track of knowledge, expertise and experience a tradesperson acquires outside of the on-the-job training.
Speaker 1:At the moment, builders and solar businesses need to comply with the CPD scheme to retain their trade licences. To do this, they need to acquire the required amount of CPD points set by that industry. The CPD points can be gained by numerous ways. Points can be gained by numerous ways For our solar accreditation. We can attend trade shows, online webinars, online or face-to-face meetings, online training, classroom or face-to-face training. So at the moment that I know of, it's only builders and solar businesses that need CPD points, but I feel that all tradespeople should be on the CPD system, especially electricians and plumbers, who don't have this system in place at the moment.
Speaker 1:As an electrician, our industry is heavily regulated by the federal and state governments Network service providers known as NSPs, for example, essential Energy, ausgrid and Endeavour Energy, who they all cover certain areas within New South Wales and we're all bound by the network service providers service and installation rules, the New South Wales state service and installation rules and the holy grail of electrical rule books, which is called the AS3000 wiring rules, are the Australian industry standards. The solar industry have their own list of rule books also. They have about six different rule books to do with solar. All these different rule books must be purchased from Standards Australia. These books can be on hardcover version and as well as online PDF versions saved to your computers, smartphones or smart devices. All businesses in these industries must have access to these rule books at all time.
Speaker 1:The rules are constantly changing and evolving with the introduction of new technologies, with the introduction of new technologies, so it is most important to stay up to date with rules, industry training, modern technologies and service and installation practices. And the only way to do this is to acquire your nominated CPD points annually and be proactive and en enroll yourself into industry training or keep on learning and learn a new industry or find a pathway to specialize in an area within your own industry. I remember when I was learning my trade as an electrician, we had a really good industry TAFE teacher. One in particular would always say to the group when you finish your electrical apprenticeship, don't be just another electrician. Go out and further your knowledge and career. Go out and learn more and specialise in an area that you enjoy doing and that has followed me all through my career. I have enrolled in numerous electrical and solar courses to stand out from the rest.
Speaker 1:I feel that introducing the CPD system into the electrical industry will be a huge advantage for the tradesperson and the customer. It will clean up the industry instantly with bringing the tradesperson up to speed with the latest rules, service and installation practices, with what to do and not what to do, and with modern technologies. It will weed out all cowboys in the industry who refuse to follow the rules and constantly take shortcuts. These are the ones who like to race each other to the bottom of the barrel. It's a race to see who can do it cheaper or even do it next to nothing and make no money in actually paying the customer to do the work. To do the work and, most importantly, the customer knows that they will be employing a fully qualified tradesperson who is fully insured and equipped with the best practices in the world. I would guess there would be a fair percentage of tradespeople who would whinge, complain and carry on about being introduced to the CPD system and state that they have been doing this job for years and they're not going to do it or they don't need to do it. Basically, it will get rid of all the cowboys and monkeys in the different trades. We don't need them in our industries.
Speaker 1:And now it's time for quote of the week, and this quote comes from American comedian, mr Bill Burr. My favourite kind of humour is basically If it was happening to you, it wouldn't be funny, but to observe it it would be hilarious. So that's all for now, folks, but before I go, if there is anything you'd like me to talk about on future episodes, maybe want to ask a question or be on the show, you can do this by contacting us on any of our media sites. I'll put the links to these in the show notes, and don't forget to follow the show and leave a review. Thanks for listening to Sparky's Life. I'm your host, grant Durko. Keep safe and catch you on the next one.
Speaker 2:I love it. You know I love it. Love and hate, romantic sin, fire and ice Gone with the wind. You know I love it. We're the kind Burning blind. We're breaking all the laws Of our universe. Northern lights Lowering skies we're breaking all the laws of our universe. Northern lights, pouring skies we're breaking all the laws of our universe. We're breaking all the laws of our universe. Don't break my heart, just break free. Just let me see your bad streaks. Maybe they'll match my freaks. Yeah, I'd kill to see the stars cry. Roam in the dark while I love high. Let the world know you're mine. Oh, what Ups and downs. No in-betweens. Fire and ice. Burn gasoline. You know I love it. You know I love it.
Speaker 2:Love and hate, romantic sin, fire and ice gun with the wind. You know I love it. We're the kind Burning blind. We're the kind burning blind. We're breaking all the laws of our universe. Northern lights, blue skies we're breaking all the laws of our universe. Ah-ooh, we're the kind burning blind, ah-ooh. Northern roaring skies we're the guys burning bright. We're breaking all the laws of our universe. Northern lights, northern skies we're breaking all the laws of our universe. We're breaking all the laws of our universe. Northern lights, we're breaking all the laws of our universe.
