The room was completely full as the final session of our design training series wrapped up on Tuesday December 16th. The training series included Introduction to PV Design, Structural PV Design, and Electrical PV Design. It was the first time GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles (GLA) held a design training for its volunteers outside of the training they receive during installs.
The training was brought to life by Project Fellow Vivi Fuentes, who designed over 140 systems this year. All three classes filled up very quickly, indicating a strong desire on the part of volunteers to explore design as a possible career. Even GRID staff from the San Diego Office attended, as in the near future, they hope to implement design training for their volunteers as well.
The majority of the volunteers who attend are looking to explore different careers in solar such as design and site surveying. Adam Ericksen, who has been volunteering with GLA since October, explains, “This is a good way to learn what the designer job is all about.” Adam, who has a PhD in Mathematics and experience with CAD, has had no formal training in photovoltaics, but is very interested in exploring design as a career. “Just by looking at job descriptions, I had some Idea of what a designer job entails, but these classes go into a good level of depth in regards to the electric code and obstacles to consider in your design.”
Volunteers seemed very eager to learn and hope that they will get their hands on a computer soon so they can start designing. The design training series are just beginning and next year, we will hope to accommodate an even bigger class of trainees. Volunteer and Training Coordinator Isabel Lopez says, “Next year it’s going to be an exciting year for our volunteers, while we will see an increase on the number of volunteer opportunities on installs, we will also see more technical training opportunities, such as the design training, so volunteers can explore other aspects of the solar world outside of installations.”