Learn PV to Power Up Your Career

Quickly and easily train to become a PV installer or solar sales representative. Start a new career in solar installations or expand your existing HVAC or electrical business to residential and small commercial PV systems. Learn how to design, site, and size the right solar electric system for your customer.

Power up your career: stake a claim as your market’s foremost authority on solar photovoltaic systems.

It’s no secret that the construction market and building trades have suffered these past years. But one huge exception is in renewable energy, and solar is lighting the way. Solar photovoltaic installations have grown an average of 40% a year for the last five years, and the rate of growth is now increasing, even while US housing starts slowed to the lowest levels since the 1950s.

The solar industry grew by 67% in 2010, and another 109% in 2011, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association of America (SEIA), the leading solar association. Their annual PV reports are cited by major newspapers and a variety of renewable energy news outlets in March 2011. In a summary from the Year-in-Review 2011 report:

NABCEP PV Entry Level Exam Provider

"The U.S. solar energy industry installed a record 1,855 MW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2011, more than doubling the previous annual record of 887 MW set in 2010, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight report... 800 MW were installed in the commercial sector in 2011, led by the California and New Jersey, compared to 758 MW of utility PV and 297 MW of residential installations."

EPC Services for Solar PV Projects

The partners of Solar Seminars also own a separate, professional PV installation company, CalComSolar, that specializes in designing and installing solar electric offsets for agricultural and commercial clients. CalComSolar provides project development services and/or Engineering, Procurement and Construction services for large commercial photovoltaic systems installations from a few hundred kilowatt to multi-megawatt systems. Our team will work with you as needed to complete on-time and on-budget commercial PV projects. We provide services that can help in the project development stage or construction stage depending on what is needed, such as:

• extensive financial analysis and modeling of project performance,
• best practice PV system design and engineering,
• effective procurement for the most cost effective and highest quality components,
• detailed hands-on construction management and installation,
• ongoing data monitoring, so that you know how well your system is performing, hour by hour.

Soaring utility costs and dropping solar photovoltaic prices are creating grid parity: where it becomes cheaper to produce power from solar than to buy it from the grid. It makes great financial sense to install solar PV to offset peak demand for commercial electricity – for California commercial and agricultural rate payers, peak electricity can cost more than 40¢ per kilowatt hour. For some clients, that translates into millions spent each year to power the machines that make their businesses grow. Agriculture, schools, hotels, retail: our commercial clients see a full return-on-investment within a few years, with basically ‘free’ power after that for at least 25 years.

Check out the projects we’ve done.

Specialized PV Courses

Solar Seminars offers an accredited photovoltaic installation classes for newcomers to this remarkable industry - PV 101, an entry level solar course for residential and small commercial installations. It is based directly on NABCEP’s solar PV training objectives, is as either an online or in person solar class. We are a NABCEP provider for their entry level exam.

Because of our work in PV, we have developed several specialized courses as well: Solar Sales 101, PV 51 - skills needed for large commercial array installations, and HVAC to PV. The details for these are below. 

If you're just looking for the theoretical knowledge of how to best use solar and integrate PV systems to advance your own knowledge or career, our Online Only course is perfect for you: we offer one of the best online courses in the industry with full access to instructors, other students in forums, and our extensive references. This Online Only course requires no hands on, though you are welcome to upgrade to PV 101 for that experience if you wish. Students who successfully complete the Online Only course can also sit for the NABCEP exam.

The textbook SSi uses in its courses was written by SSi staff and is available for sale.

• Practical PV: An Illustrated Guide to Photovoltaics

Learn more about our classes...:

Solar Sales 101

3 days of intensive training.
Free reference textbook.

NO prior experience required.

Details here.

HVAC to PV

3 days of design training.
Hands-on installation practice.
PV technical sales training. FREE reference textbook.

Prior experience required.

Details here.

PV 51: Large Commercial

Learn the skills needed to work as a technician on large commercial installations.

FREE reference textbook.

Details here.

PV 101: Entry Level Residential

and Small Commercial Installations.

Learn either in traditional classroom or as a blended class combining online and hands on. Either includes two days of  installations training. Free reference textbook.

NABCEP Entry Level Test Eligible.

Details here.

PV 101 Online

Based on the same learning materials as PV 101, this online only course uses text, images, diagrams, video, & assessments with access to online instructors.

NABCEP Entry Level Test Eligible.

Details here.