Occupational Certificate: Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION:

The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to operate as a Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician.

A Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician performs maintenance (preventative, scheduled, unscheduled) on PV systems in compliance with Department of Energy and related regulations, isolate the PV system (in the case of a PV farm this is done with authorisation obtained from the plant controller); perform fault finding (trouble-shooting), identify deficiencies; analyse information, carry out maintenance, repair (including removing and replacing components), and find solutions to a range of problems. A Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician may be employed either at a photovoltaic farm or at standalone PV installations. Hence, there is the Photovoltaic (PV) Service Technician (PV Farm) and the Photovoltaic (PV) Service Technician (Standalone Installation).

SKILLS RATIONALE:

South Africa has many resources of renewable energy like sunshine and wind. Hence, there has been a drive to harness and exploit renewable energy, which is gaining huge momentum. This stems from two very important factors: firstly, the possibility of decreasing dependence on coal-fired power stations and thereby reducing the concomitant degradation of the environment and, secondly, the recurrent energy generation problems being experienced nationally.

A number of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) farms have been set-up across the country and many companies and individuals have stand-alone roof-top installations, all of which require Solar PV Technicians to maintain, service and repair them.

A QUALIFIED LEARNER WILL BE ABLE TO:

• Plan for the installation of a photovoltaic system.
• Install a photovoltaic system.
• Maintain, diagnose and repair electrical and mechanical components of PV systems.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

• NQF Level 4 qualification with mathematics.

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES:

• Plan and prepare for PV system installation.
• Install mechanical components of solar PV system (stand-alone).
• Install electrical components of solar PV system (stand-alone).
• Maintain, test and replace PV panels components.
• Maintain, test repair and replace inverters and transformers.
• Maintain, test and replace cables, cable inter-connections, smart boxes, PV junction/string boxes, string diodes, connectors, fuses, switchgears and control gears and repair switchgears and control gears.
• Maintain, test and replace batteries and charge controllers and repair charge controllers where possible.