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PAGE 8 • JANUARY 2022
THE ELECTRIC TIMES
WECA to hold open house at Phoenix training facility
R. Palmer
Electric Times
After launching in January 2021, the
Western Electrical Contractors Association
(WECA) is marking its first year of operation
in Phoenix with an open house and ribbon-cutting
ceremony on Jan. 12 from 4
p.m. to 7 p.m. at its electrical apprenticeship
training facility at 2750 South 18th Place,
Suite 100 in Phoenix.
“This will be an introduction and celebration
of the center being fully open and
growing,” explained Don Black, WECA
director of apprenticeship, IT and facilities,
who is based in Rancho Cordova, Calif.
WECA has been operating in California
for over 90 years, according to Black.
With some California connections,
Corbins Electric—with offices in Phoenix,
Tucson and Albuquerque—reached out to
Fremont, Calif. – On Dec. 21 Enphase
Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH), a global
energy technology company and the world’s
leading supplier of microinverter-based solar
and battery systems, announced the closing
of its acquisition of 365 Pronto, Inc. Based in
Scottsdale, Ariz., 365 Pronto is a predictive
software platform dedicated to simplifying
the cleantech service landscape by matching
cleantech asset owners to a local and ondemand
workforce of service providers.
The 365 Pronto software platform enables
a two-sided marketplace. The buyers are customers
consisting of installers, cleantech
asset owners, or original equipment manufacturers
. The sellers are service providers
consisting of technicians and third-party
Study
Continued from page 1
explaining, “Individuals who worked ‘normal
’ 9-to-5 jobs were being laid off in
incredible numbers, and those industries
dependent on them, like restaurant and
entertainment, were also mercilessly shut
down,” he said.
“We reconsidered what was essential to
our day-to-day lives,” Heiman added. “The
trade industry was found to be essential. If
you think about it, this holds true in Arizona
even more so than in other states. You need
air conditioning just to live here. You need
electricity, refrigeration for vaccines and
medications. The trade industry is essential
to all those who live here.”
EV
Enphase Energy completes acquisition of 365 Pronto
Continued from page 3
automotive education is critical for an economy
that is transitioning to low-carbon,
electric vehicles and transportation,” said
Kate Kochenderfer, senior director of supply
chain, transportation, and flight services
at SRP. “We are honored to make this donation
, as a full-electric vehicle is a valuable
asset that will help round out GCC’s training
models and open up a pipeline of skilled
resources to one day work at SRP or other
local companies within our community.”
The associate degree and certificates in
Applied Science in Automotive Service at
GCC prepares students to apply technical
knowledge and skills to repair, service, and
maintain all vehicles, especially hybrid
electric and full electric vehicles.
SRP has been a leader in the EV space
for some time and has spent over 20 years
investigating and piloting electric vehicles
the organization to help expand the company
’s training programs and bring WECA’s
apprenticeship training program to the
Phoenix area.
“That started the dialog,” said Black. “So
we went through the process of approval to
get into Phoenix. We started with Corbins as
our founding member, and we have grown
since then.”
Currently there are about 80 apprentices
in the program representing about seven
electrical contractors. By the end of January
WECA should be close to it first-year goal
of 100 apprentices, according to Black.
“Right now, the construction industry is
going like gangbusters,” Black added.
WECA’s training is a commercial
apprenticeship four-year program. Black
explained that they start in their first year
learning basic electrical theory, and as they
installers providing services for residential
and commercial solar, battery storage, and
EV charging stations. 365 Pronto has hundreds
of service providers nationwide who
are qualified on its platform. A pre-priced
work order is usually created by the customer
and the 365 Pronto software platform algorithmically
matches and dispatches a qualified
service provider to complete the work
order efficiently.
The acquisition is expected to provide the
following benefits:
• Offers Enphase’s installers the opportunity
to service their own operations and
maintenance contracts via the 365 Pronto
software platform when necessary
• Provides Enphase’s installers access to a
Additionally, the shift in college format
during the pandemic may have created student
interest in careers with tangible skills.
“A lot of traditional two-year and fouryear
college environments went remote,”
Heiman stated, “and with classes being held
mainly online, students lost the social interaction
aspect that is such an integral part of
education. Hands-on training is so essential
to the skilled trades that we began exploring
ways to use technology to enhance the student
experience. As a result, we now offer
OcuWeld, a program that allows students to
learn and practice welding techniques in a
virtual environment using Oculus Quest 2
technology.”
for SRP employees, the SRP fleet and customers
. At the end of its fiscal year 2020,
SRP converted its entire sedan fleet to all
EVs (hybrid and battery).
Education and awareness in electric
transportation are critical facets to reaching
SRP’s EV- and carbon-reduction related
sustainability goals. Among SRP’s 2035
Sustainability Goals, the utility plans to
support the enablement of 500,000 EVs in
SRP’s service territory.
“We’re grateful to SRP for their support
in the automotive community even beyond
this donation,” said Davis. “SRP employees
are always willing to step up and donate
their time at the Automotive and Heavy
Duty Truck High School and Post-Secondary
events and competitions. The utility has
also donated money for scholarships, and
helped facilitate many of Arizona’s Automotive
events and competitions.”
move through the years the complexity
increases towards such areas as industrial
motor controls, advanced wiring techniques
, lighting controls and more. “As well
as all the physical tasks that electricians are
required to do, like pipe bending and
threading, layout and plan reading, with the
goal that by the end of the four years they
are journey-level.”
WECA’s phoenix facility instructor is
Keith Smart. Smart was lead instructor at
WECA’s Riverside, Calif. location.
“Keith was eager to move out to Phoenix
and help us get it going,” said Black, adding
that WECA employs full-time instructors.
“We really try to seek out those tradespeople
who have the heart of an educator, who
might be a good mentor, and then train them
to be good educators. We ask that all of our
instructors become credentialed instructors,
nationwide qualified supplemental labor
pool that can perform service calls at a
time of severe labor shortages within the
industry
• Increases the service level for current 365
Pronto customers with the addition of the
highly skilled network of Enphase
installers as service providers
• Enhances the homeowner experience of
buying and owning solar, battery storage,
and EV charging stations by helping to
reduce wait times for maintenance services
“We are pleased to welcome 365 Pronto’s
customers, service providers, and employees
to Enphase,” said Badri Kothandaraman,
president and CEO at Enphase Energy. “The
and they go through a formal training
process for that.”
During the open house on Jan. 12 tours
of the training facility and labs will be given
with the opportunity to meet with WECA
team members. Food and drinks will be provided
, and the event is open to anyone in the
Arizona electrical industry community.
Currently WECA is operating in California
and Phoenix, but future growth plans are
on the horizon.
“We have four locations in California
and the one in Phoenix,” said Black. “Our
members are asking us to look at other
states, but we haven’t got to that point
where we have physically opened up in any
other states, although that is something that
will happen in the future.”
company’s software platform will provide
our installers the ability to service their own
O&M contracts with an on-demand network
of service providers. We are excited about
this opportunity to improve the installer
experience as we continue to expand our digital
platform.”
“We are thrilled to join Enphase Energy,”
said Scott Tonn, CEO at 365 Pronto. “Our
customers expect high-quality service, and
Enphase is synonymous with high quality.
Enphase’s world-class customer service and
digital platform align perfectly with 365
Pronto. We believe that the acquisition will
help us to rapidly expand our customer base
and achieve our vision of making service
simple.”
OcuWeld will be available to students in
Tulsa and Phoenix starting January.
The study also reports the satisfaction
rate of current surveyed trade school students
is at an impressive 83 percent.
Heiman said the graduation and job
placement rate of students enrolled in programs
like those offered at RSI and listed
under the Strata Tech umbrella companies
further expresses the satisfaction and success
rate.
“More than 1,800 students were placed
in jobs in their field of study in 2020, and
3,000 in 2021,” he said, “These students are
typically placed in the field almost immediately
upon graduation with an average starting
salary of approximately $40,000.”
Heiman said that the cost of traditional
college tuition increasing annually is another
reason individuals are looking into trade
schools.
“Trade school can provide a better return
on investment,” Heiman said. “Many trade
programs cost about $20,000 altogether and
can be completed in as little as three
months. When you can walk into a job that
pays double what you just spent on your
education, the payback speaks for itself.”
StrataTech’s local training facility, RSI,
offers programs in refrigeration, electrical,
welding, and more in different formats year
round.
Kate Kochenderfer (left), senior director of supply chain, transportation,
and flight services at SRP, gives keys to the donated EV to Susan
Campbell, dean of instruction, career and technical education at GCC
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