Accredited, recognised in Canada, issued in the United States — and routinely confused with the electrical licence that actually governs the work.
Solar is the one track in this catalogue where an accredited credential already exists and works. It is also the track where the credential is most often mistaken for permission to do the work.
NABCEP, in the United States. It writes, delivers and scores its own examinations and registers training providers rather than delivering training itself — the structural choice that let it become accredited, and the model any credible certification body follows.
NABCEP's testing vendor adds an international fee for examinations taken outside the United States and Canada. Canada is inside that boundary. Candidates testing here pay the same as candidates testing in the US, which means there is no fee reason to travel and no reason to pay a third party an “international booking” charge.
Demonstrate knowledge to an employer or a customer, satisfy specifications that name a NABCEP credential, and — for the professional certifications — evidence documented installation experience that has been independently checked.
Less than people expect on the credential, and a great deal on the connection. Electrical licensing, the notification and inspection sequence, and the net metering rules are provincial. In Ontario, net metering credits offset the commodity portion of a bill only — not delivery or regulatory charges — unused credits expire after twelve months, and there is no cash paid for surplus. That is a system-sizing constraint, and it is the kind of thing a credential does not teach you but a province will enforce.
A Solar Canada training and examination business operates within the wider group of companies that founded CABCEP. That relationship is capable of creating a threat to impartiality and is disclosed in full in the impartiality policy.
It changes nothing on this page: CABCEP names no training provider as a route to any credential, recommends none, and would not certify solar in any event — an accredited credential already exists and duplicating it would serve us and nobody else.
The credential on this page is issued by another organization. CABCEP does not issue it, does not administer it, is not affiliated with the body that does, and earns nothing from it.
CABCEP holds no accreditation and issues no certification of its own. This page is reference information, not advice — requirements change and vary by province, and the issuing body, regulator or programme administrator is always the authority on its own rules.
No. NABCEP does not require any particular training as a condition of sitting the PV Associate examination. Training providers exist and many candidates use one; none of them can influence a result.
No. It is an entry-level knowledge credential. The professional certifications require documented installation experience, and the electrical scope belongs to a licensed contractor regardless.
No. An accredited credential already exists for this work. Our schemes target work that has none.
NABCEP publishes its authorized providers. There are several in Canada, and candidates testing here pay no international surcharge.
Related
The registry
Listing is free, verified against the issuing body, and open to practitioners certified by anyone. The registry is only worth anything if it is the whole industry.