The purpose of the Photovoltaic and Renewable Integration to STEM Modules (PRISM) summer institute is to address the needs of the emerging alternative energy industry (specifically the solar photovoltaic sector) in producing highly trained and certified technicians to better meet local, regional, and national workforce demands.
The PRISM summer institute is providing training leading to national certification in photovoltaic solar systems concept, installation, and service. Daytona State College is partnering with the University of Central Florida's Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) in the development and delivery of this program, which involves recruiting and attracting current Daytona State College STEM students and the regional workforce community.
The project team and partners in the development of the summer institute have conducted a thorough review of existing curricula from the Arizona State University NSF-ATE and SMART projects among others and have mapped the summer institute curriculum to the standards established by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP), the leading certification organization for professional installers in the field of renewable energy.
The summer institute is meeting the emerging industry standards and is assisting students in gaining employment in the RE/EE field and providing certifications, thus allowing them to move-up in their current fields. Training is heavily interactive in nature. The activity is increasing the number of nationally certified solar systems installers. Additionally, this project provides a foundation for a follow-on study on certification validity. The PRISM center and its partners act as a demonstration site for regional technical training and certification.
PRISM (Photovoltaic and Renewable Integration to STEM Modules) was a 3-year project funded by National Science Foundation. Through six 40-hours workshops conducted during 2011-13, PRISM provided hands-on training opportunities for more than 100 participants from the surrounding communities of Daytona Beach. The project started by purchasing, assembling and installing the appropriate training equipments related to PV and solar-water heaters. Simultaneously, the trainings of workshop faculty were conducted at the state-of-the-art facilities of FSEC (Florida Solar Energy Center), one of the project's collaborators and in-house at the ATC. The program curriculum was based on the NABCEP recommended curriculum for PV and solar-water heater for entry level training providers which the college was a member for three years from 2011-13. The intellectual merit and broader impact of the project were substantial, including providing Daytona State College with the necessary training resources to carry on the trainings and professional development of the communities work-force in emerging technologically advanced fields of alternative solar energy harvesting and productions. The impact encompasses both photovoltaic (PV) and solar water-heater entry-level training and or re-training opportunities to multiple participants at only a fraction of the cost of competitive trainings. Most of the training workshop participants were changing careers as a result of the recent financial melt-downs of the economy. The project's outcomes included installation of multiple arrays of PV systems by some of the hands-on workshop participants as part of their "real-world" training. These PV arrays are connected to the grid and does produce electricity as the time of this submission. The college plans to carry-on these trainings in the future based on financial feasibility. This project substantially enhanced and promoted regional economic stimulations and growth by helping local work-force development and re-training in an accessible college environment with minimal costs to the participants. The projects also encouraged and included the participation of demographic minorities. Moreover, PRISM was externally evaluated by a professional external evaluator, and the project was internationally and nationally disseminated through presentation of a published paper at a major international conference in Angola, Africa.
