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Background Materials Energy Storage Systems Report File Updated: March 18, 2019 BACKGROUND MATERIALS Index Public Meeting Transcript.........................................................................2 C-46 Industry Expert Meeting Transcript.............................................192 C-10 Industry Expert Meeting Transcript.............................................252 Letters on Behalf of C-46 Industry........................................................293 Letters on Behalf of C-10 Industry........................................................481 Letters. from Elected Officials................................................................845 Electrical Industry Fact Sheet & Petition..............................................855 Social Media Report................................................................................957 Please note: Due to the amount of materials received for the Energy Storage System report, some of these background materials may have inadvertently been placed in the incorrect section of this file. As errors are noted, the file will be updated and reposted on the CSLB website. Updated: 3/18/2019 1 APRIL 25-26, 2018 PUBLIC HEARING TRANSCRIPTS . Updated: 3/18/2019 2 TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDED MEETING OF CSLB PUBLIC PARTICIPATION HEARING APRIL 25 & 26, 2018 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA Moderator: Rick Lopes, CSLB Chief of Public Affairs Transcribed by: Wendy K. Sawyer, Foothill Transcription Company May 8, 2018 Elk Grove, California --o0o-- Updated: 3/18/2019 3 Rick Lopes: Good morning. It is now 9 o'clock. We will give you a few more minutes here just to settle in. We do have a number of people still signing in. So we'll get started in just a couple of moments. Hello and good morning. We're going to go ahead and get started. It's about five after 9:00 right now. I know some people are still coming in. We were just going to get going so we can kind of stay on track. We have a number of speakers who are already signed up. So thank you, all, for being here. And welcome to the Contractors' State License Board Headquarters in Sacramento for today's public participation hearing on energy storage systems. My name is Rick Lopes. I'm the Board's Chief of Public Affairs. This morning, we will be taking your testimony to help us review our current determination on the appropriate CSLB license classification or classifications to install an energy storage system either in a stand-alone contract or when included in the installation of the solar voltaic system. You can find the current determinations on the back of the handout we gave you when you signed in this morning, along with the list of general issues that we hope to learn more about during the hearing. And this is that handout. We appreciate the time you've taken to be Updated: 3/18/2019 4 here with us today, and we welcome the insight and the perspective that you're going to be offering us. It's important to note that no decisions will be made at this hearing, and Board staff are not able to address any questions you might have about CSLB's current determination. The speakers will be allowed to address this two-day hearing once, and the comments will be limited to five minutes. You see we already have 45 people signed up. So chances are we'll be here past our noontime hour if everybody has five minutes apiece. So please work with us on that. We do have a clock here to help try to keep us on order so you can monitor your time. Please between aware, though, if after you've presented your testimony someone else makes a point that you disagree with, we're not going to be able to give you time to make additional comments. Instead, we would ask that you send us your comments on that point in writing, and we'll give you those details also on your handout. Your cooperation on this point will really help us moving this hearing along and give every speaker the same ability to present their testimony to us in an uninterrupted manner. We'll trust that you'll offer the same level of respect and attention to other speakers as will be afforded to you. Updated: 3/18/2019 5 Also, please note that if any elected officials or representatives from another government agency joins us, we'll allow them to present their testimony immediately. We are recording this hearing, and all the testimony will be transcribed and included as part of a staff report that is being prepared for the Board. Prior to the Board taking any action on this issue at a public meeting, the entire report will be made public. I also want to note that, again, all written comments that we are taking will be included in that report, as well. The deadline for you to get the written comments to us is Friday, May the 18th, again, look to the handout for those details on how to get those to us. So I think that covers everything. On behalf of the Board, our Board members and staff thank you again for your presence and participation. And my apologies in advance if I mispronounce names. I'm doing my best. It's all up to you. If you wrote it clearly, chances are I'm going to be able to stumble through it, but if not, please forgive me in advance if I mispronounce your name. We're going to get going here, and our first speaker this morning is Chuck Vella. And, Chuck, please go ahead and just hit the microphone on. There's a button on there, and the red light will be on. Thank you. Chuck Vella: All right. Good morning. My name is Updated: 3/18/2019 6 Chuck Vella, and I thank the Board for the opportunity to speak. I am speaking on public safety concerns related to energy storage systems. I am a California State- certified voice in a video and life fire safety electrician and have been an instructor for the electrical trades for over eight years and hold the title of master instructor. I've been in the electrical trades for over 29 years and considered a subject matter expert in my field by the State of California. I've helped with the development of the California Electrician certification examination. In all my years performing electrical trade work for C-10 contractors, I've never installed an electrical storage system because I am not qualified to do so. But because of my training, experience, and knowledge, I know that C-10 contractors and state certified general electricians are qualified to safely and effectively install and maintain energy storage systems. It would be a mistake for the CSLB to treat energy storage systems as merely a subsystem of a solar voltaic energy system. While these systems can be paired together, they are separate systems, subject to their own code, installation, and fire safety standards. Moreover, they pose very different fire and life safety risks. Updated: 3/18/2019 7 These risks include electrical shock, fire, flash burns, explosion, or exposures to hazardous chemicals and released gases. California State certified general electricians who work for C-10 contractors meet or exceed the NEC definition of a qualified person. It would be highly risky and technically improper for the CSLB to treat energy storage systems as a subsystem of a solar voltaic energy system. While these systems can and will be increasingly paired together, they are highly distinctive and separate systems, subject to their own inherent risk, technical specification, codes, installation, and fire safety standards. Most energy storage systems are battery-based and pose very different fire and life safety risks such as fire, arc blasts, thermal runaway, explosion, and/or exposure to released gases and hazardous chemicals. I recommend that all aspects of energy storage system installation should be undertaken with the involvement of a properly licensed professional electrical contractor and plenty trained and qualified electrical workers for a number of reasons, including electrical expertise. The workers for C-10 contractors have a great deal of electrical expertise. They take a very tough exam and can only work as certified general electricians if they pass. Let's compare that expertise to the requirements Updated: 3/18/2019 8 for the workers employed by a C-46 contractor. Some customers and business often confuse contractor with an installer. For example, some think that because a C-46 contractor has to be licensed that their workers are also licensed. That is not the case, and that is a very important distinction. There is no minimum California State requirement for education, training, skills, or certification of the workers who install photo voltaic systems for C-46 contractors. That means if a C-46 contractors are permitted to install energy storage systems, those same workers with no minimum requirements for education, training, skills, or certification would be installing and maintaining these high-powered systems and putting worker and public safety at risk. Considering the dangers related to energy storage systems and the critical importance of proper and safe installation of maintenance, allowing C-46 contractors and their workers to install energy storage systems is a worker and public safety risk that should not be taken. I trust that the CSLB will make the right determination and award C-10 contractors with energy storage systems for the protection of life and property for its residents of California. Thank you. Rick Lobes: Great, Chuck. Thank you very much. Updated: 3/18/2019 9 Our next speaker is one I'm going to mess up. So Kasitalea Abe Talakai? Welcome. Kasitalea Abe Talakai: Good morning. My name is Kasitalea Abraham Talakai, and I've been a state- certified electrician as of 2011. I completed a five- year electrical apprenticeship that covered many electrical aspects -- AC theory, DC theory, troubleshooting, voltage, safety.
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