Is an electrician a Solar Installer?
Is a Systems Engineer a Solar Installer?
Is a Mechanical or "M" Engineer a Solar installer?
Who is the best option to install, manage and monitor a solar system?
A electrician is familiar with the local electrical regulations and entered the Solar business to mainly to over charge clients which install a solar system but have mostly no understanding of the operating logic of at least 3 inverter system topologies and electronics driving and controlling these systems.
A “M ” Engineer which is a Mechanical Engineer in disguise is suitable for heavy engineering, machinery, bridges and similar project. Knowledge of electronics or software programming is generally very limited or not existent. A client hardly needs a Mechanical Engineer to drive some screws into a piece of wood, drill some wholes in the wall or tighten some nuts but their services are very costly specially in a “bandwagon” business as the solar industry at present.
A Systems Engineer sees the complete picture of the whole system from design to commissioning and is fully aware of which skill sets and materials are required to complete such a system as well as monitor and maintain it after commissioning on site or remotely. A Systems Engineer is also familiar with system programming, operating logic and the handling of different inverter topologies. A system engineer will take into account the electrical local regulation as well as the requirement of the inverter system manufacturer. As inverter technology keeps progressing in an incredible speed a systems engineer is therefor the best choice for any one who seriously intends to implement a solar system.
As far as we know there is no apprenticeship with a standardized job profile in South Africa available with internationally recognized certification as it is per example in Germany
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