Core requirements to become a member of the Southern Arizona Solar Standards Board include:
Certified Installer List
- At least one North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) certified full-time employee on staff primarily working in southern Arizona in the field(s) related to accreditation.
- In business for two years and have at least 10 utility verified system installs related to accreditation field (hot water and/or PV). Before accreditation is granted, SASSB will conduct an inspection of one system out of 10 provided by the company. Annual inspections will be conducted after accreditation is approved. If company fails an inspection they will be placed on an internal "conditional status" and an additional random inspection selection and related inspection fee will be required.
- In good standing with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, deemed an "approved installer" with applicable utilities, and properly licensed through all applicable southern Arizona entities. Company must have solar specific licenses in company name - 11 for PV and 78,77,39 (including solar), or 37 (including solar) for hot water. No work can be done outside of allowable scope of licenses.
- Must adhere to ethical sales practices.
In Progress Installer List
Solar Electric
- Flashable roof penetrations, and no impediments to water flow on roof
- 10-year workmanship warranty
- Data monitoring offered in all systems
- System check-up of all components within 1 year to ensure that system is functioning properly
- Design to 1 percent voltage drop, for both the AC circuit and DC circuit, in order to maximize the investment of resources over the life of the system
- A performance guarantee as offered by the installer, and on the proposal
- Inverters placed in shaded location, or awning supplied with system
- System check-up for (both monitored and unmonitored system) on all components within 1 year from date placed in service
- All rooftop wire connections should be either terminal blocks, listed crimp, polaris lugs or other appropriate insulated compression connector.
- Rooftop wiring should be rated for wet location and 90 deg. C
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Install systems in a neat and workman like manner
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System meets SASSB system inspection checklist
- When a system is sized to over 100 percent of load, a warning must be included in the proposal to notify the consumer
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115 percent maximum DC capacity to AC capacity inverter sizing
- Financial assumptions and methods must be clear and apparent on proposals. Calculations must use or include:
- Actual rates to be calculated using customer provided billing data in the equation below or in absence of actual calculations, the following avoided cost rates shall be used for standard residential rate plans: TEP $.10, Trico $.14, Unisource $.11, SSVEC $.135
- 2 percent inflation rate (other rates permissible as long as one equally apparent scenario uses 2 percent)
- Taxes payable on utility incentives
- Eventual inverter replacement
- Additionally, when calculating pricing, the cost of the solar system alone is used as the basis for tax rebates
*(Customer bill total) minus (fixed charges + (taxes associated with fixed charges)) divided by kWh usage.
Solar Hot Water
- Insulation protection from elements
- Data Monitoring offered in all systems
- System check-up of all components within 1 year to ensure that system is functioning properly
- 5-year complete system warranty
- No impediments to water flow on roof
- Flashable roof penetrations for mounting, plumbing, electrical and/or sensor wires
- No unglazed collectors shall be used in solar hot water installations
- Install systems in a neat and workman like manner
- Must follow all SRCC-OG 300 labeling
- System meets SASSB system inspection checklist
* Best practices will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.