For students who are interested in energy efficiency, San Jose City College offers a class in the growing market of solar technology called Intro to Photovoltaic Installation.
“If you like going green and you like saving money, it (solar technology) is fun,” former SJCC student Larry Tumale said.
This class provides hands-on training to prepare students for jobs in the solar technology field. Students learn jobsite safety, solar energy fundamentals, electricity basics, module fundamentals, system components and mechanical and electrical design according to the 2013 SJCC catalog. This class prepares students for entry-level positions in this field.
It introduces students to photovoltaic (PV) power systems and their installations.
Instructor Matthew Welch, owns his own electrical contracting company, Earth Electric, that specializes in solar

installation and consulting.
“By applying the knowledge given to them in this class, they can put a system on their homes which will save them hundreds of thousands of dollars over the long term,” Welch said.
Tumale said students get to do interesting experiments in the class such as the arc test in which the instructor puts several solar panels together and shorts them out so that they make arc.
Welch said he does this demonstration to show his students that what they are working with is real, powerful and dangerous.
“All of the lab is dealing with the real power; none of it is scaled back for desktop use. We are hooking up to the power system of the school, 240 volts, and we can get volts as high as 500 in the lab,”Welch said.
Welch has all of the students complete a class project in which each of the designs his or her own PV system for his or her own needs that will fit on their house.
“By the time you are done with that class project, you are real close to having a real-life, working set of plans that you can submit to the city to get a permit,” Welch said.
Tumale said Welch gets in-depth into eachs ystem.
Kieron Connolly, Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration and Facilities Maintenance Technology instructor said students should take this class because solar technology is the way to the future.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association website, the solar technology market grew 76 percent in 2012.
“2012 was a busy year in the U.S. solar market … in 2013 we expect another strong year driven in part by new mechanisms to increase the availability and lower the cost, of solar project financing,” wrote Vice President of Greentech Media Shayle Kann, in a March 14 article on the SEIA website.
Welch said he does not give very much homework and that most of the homework he does give is to read the class textbook to prepare for the quizzes.
The class is 3.5 units, and lecture is on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the lab is on Saturdays from 9 a.m.-12:05 p.m. The class is held in the 200 Wing in room 209B.