SOLAR LABOR COST V. QUALITY FIGHT

Behind The Controversy Over Unlicensed Workers At Mass. Solar Site

Jessica Lillian, 5 December 2012 (Solar Industry)

“…Massachusetts has seen growing controversy over PV installation staffing - particularly at large-scale, ground-mounted commercial solar farm sites…[A]nyone who installs ‘wires, conduits, apparatus, devices, fixtures or other appliances for carrying or using electricity for light, heat, power, fire warning or security system purposes’ must be a licensed electrician…[M]any other states may require only that a licensed electrician supervise…or allow the contractor to hold a general license.

“Some PV developers and integrators report that the higher costs associated with using strictly licensed electricians keeps them out of the Massachusetts solar market altogether. Other solar companies operating in Massachusetts have found themselves under investigation by the Division of Professional Licensure (DPL)…”

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“…Patriot Solar and EPG Solar…[own the land on which an investigated] project is being developed…Michael Borkowski, managing partner at EPG Solar…maintained that non-electricians can, in fact, legally perform racking installations and similar duties, per the outcome of…the Carroll case, centered on the role of non-licensed general contractors in building PV installations in Massachusetts…[The case found that] installation of racks and rails does qualify as electrical work, while drilling holes in a roof as part of array prep work, for instance, is considered non-electrical…

“…[Some say the] complaints stem from hostility over [union] own members' failure to win the installation job rather than actual safety concerns…[The union says the investigations represent] a larger trend of solar contractors that take labor shortcuts. Earlier this year, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' Boston division, Local 103, waged a public campaign against [another Massachusetts project]…”

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