Advisory Committee

CHAIR: Donald B. Warfield, BP Solar
Donald Warfield has more than 33 years experience in the solar industry as a product development and applications engineer. He is currently with BP Solar and is a long time stakeholder in the codes and standards arena.

Ezra Auerbach, North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners
 Ezra Auerbach is currently serving as the Executive Director for the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) and has a long history in the renewable energy industry. He has worked as an inverter product manager, a marketing manager in distribution, and owned and operated a retail and wholesale renewable energy business. He has also served on many boards and advisory committees including the NABCEP as the Chairperson (prior to becoming Executive Director), the ISPQ Advisory Board and Board, the SolarTech Board, and the Boards of CanSIA and SESCI.

John Berdner, SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
John Berdner has 27 years experience in every aspect of the photovoltaic industry and is currently the General Manager for North America, SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. He has extensive experience in PV product definition, PV system design, regulatory compliance, and PV standards development. He has served on a variety of codes and standards panels including the STP for UL1741, the industry advisory group for NEC 690 and 705, and the IEC.

Jon Bertolino, Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Joe Bertolino is the Superintendent, Renewable Generation Assets for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. He has operational responsibility for the fleet of utility-owned PV arrays and has guided development of customer programs for PV ownership. He supports the national development of solar codes and standards, which is critical to the continuing commercial success of solar technology.

Alex Bradley, Dupont
Alex Bradley is the standards and codes leader for DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions. Alex has committee representation in the U.S. for both the UL/ANSI 1703 STP (flat plate PV) and NFPA/NEC Panel 4 article 690 (photovoltaic systems). Alex has international experience in standards development through a previous work assignment with the ANSI Biofuels Standards Coordination Panel to help establish a Biofuel Standards and Codes Roadmap.

Neal Burdick, City of Tampa
Neal Burdick has over 30 years of experience and is currently a Construction Inspector for the City of Tampa. He is a registered instructor for the Electrical Council of Florida and is the author and instructor of a State of Florida approved Electrical Contractor's Licensing Board course: "PV Inspection/Installer Checklist." He understands that solar technology will be changing and improving over the next few years, and is committed to be on the front line of product compliance, safety and approval.

Joannie Chin, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Joannie. Chin is a leader in the Materials and Construction Research Division of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This division has a strategic mission to anticipate and meet the measurement science, standards, and technology needs for the United States. Her expertise provides unique knowledge and guidance, which contributes to improving the solar codes and standards development process.

Christine Covington, Solar Energy Industries Association
Christine Covington serves as the Solar Energy Industries Association's (SEIA) Manager of Environment, Health & Safety, which is a position at the center of SEIA's work on solar codes and standards. Previously, Christine worked as a consultant analyzing policies related to clean-energy financing. She worked mainly with Abundant Power, a clean-energy administration and financing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she helped draft the winning proposal for the City of Charleston's clean-energy financing program.

Marv Dargatz, Enphase Energy
Marv Dargatz has been a leader in the solar industry for a number of years as an electronics designer. He was part of a team of lead electronics designers, which produced the first large grid-tied inverters. He was also heavily involved in Underwriters Laboratories testing of many products and has solid experience in the solar standards and code compliance.

Wolfgang Fritz, Schletter Inc.
Wolfgang Fritz serves as Vice President of Engineering for Schletter Inc. and currently leads the engineering department for the North American operations. During Wolfgang's tenure at Schletter, he has worked with various organizations both domestically and internationally to educate groups on the importance of sound structural design of mounting systems in accordance with local building codes and the potential for cost savings through optimization of structural design and installation methods. Dr. Fritz also coordinates and performs all engineering design aspects of the solar mounting systems.

Ryan Gaston, Dow Chemical Co.
Ryan Gaston has over 11 years of extensive plastics R&D development expertise.  He is currently leading Dow's team on BIPV reliability and performance testing and polymeric material development programs and leading Dow's UL listing, IEC certification, and ICC-ES code report efforts. Ryan is dedicated to developing the qualification and safety standards and building codes to insure that products are safe and reliable.

Garen Grigoryan, Pacific Gas & Electric
Garen Grigoryan currently works in PG&E's Solar and Customer Generation group and is directly involved in PG&E's solar-related projects through data analysis and forecasting, strategy issues, and industry assessments. Garen has a thorough understanding of solar policies and issues, including analysis and strategy on DG rates and grid impact (i.e., Net Metering, Virtual Net Metering, etc). Other responsibilities include working with the California Public Utilities Commission, local governments (Solar America Cities) and other industry stakeholders to help develop and provide solar reports.

Smita Gupta, Itron, Inc.
Smita Gupta is a Senior Energy Consultant at Itron with over ten years of experience in building energy efficiency and solar. At Itron she is assisting with the management of CPUC's California Solar Initiative (CSI) RD&D program; working on program outreach and coordination, solicitations, proposal reviews and right through grant management. She has previously worked at the California Energy Commission (CEC), where she provided seminal work on the CEC's PV calculation tool and development of the new residential solar incentive program and Million Solar Roofs guidelines, which combine energy efficiency with solar. She was also involved in the development of testing requirements for PV modules to get certified and listed with the CEC.

Sue Kateley, California Solar Energy Industries Association
Sue Kateley is the Executive Director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. Sue has a career of 30 years developing and implementing energy policies and programs with a particular focus on renewable energy and advanced technologies. She has extensive experience in the renewable energy codes and standards, which includes work on the Uniform Solar Energy Code, implementation of the California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24) including training local building departments and improving accuracy of computer models used to estimate building energy performance, and the development and adoption of building codes for Electric Vehicle Charging Systems

Lee Kraemer, First Solar
Lee Kraemer is the Director of Product Safety for First Solar, which is one of the world's largest solar panel manufacturers. He also currently sits on the UL1703 Standards Technical Panel and brings a unique perspective because of his position at First Solar. First Solar manufactures thin film solar panels in a variety of global locations, and in the United States and does all of their engineering, procurement and construction of utility scale PV plants.

Jean Posbic, MEMC Electronics Materials, Inc.
Jean Posbic is the Head Design Director for Solar Modules at MEMC Electronics Materials, Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience in the solar industry and prior to joining MEMC he headed the technology and module development teams at Solarex and BP Solar.

Jacques Roeth, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Jacques Roeth is currently the Project Manager for Clean Energy Resources and Market Development at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. He is responsible for the development of energy projects that promote energy efficiency, renewable resources and environmental benefits for the State of New York. Jacques has a broad technical knowledge of a wide variety of renewable energy technologies and is also part of an Advisory Team for New York's Solar Thermal Roadmap.

Patrick Saxton, California Energy Commission
Patrick Saxton is a Senior Electrical Engineer with the California Energy Commission. He has over 4 years of direct experience with solar energy systems. His main focus is implementation of the Energy Commission's Eligibility Criteria and Conditions for Solar Energy System and New Solar Homes Partnership. Patrick strives to help manufacturers, program participants, test laboratories, utilities, and others comply with the requirements for those programs. In addition, he has an increasing role in Energy Commission’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 6) as the potential grows for the integration of renewable energy systems into the standards.

Mike Taylor, Solar Electric Power Association
Mike Taylor currently serves as the Director of Research and Education for the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA). He is responsible for the delivery of technical services, studies and reports, and process development for SEPA's broad and diverse membership, with specific focus on the utility aspects of solar industry expansion. His extensive experience has made him intimately familiar with the importance of technical standards and the need to communicate them in plain and complete language to the public, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Maura Yates, Arizona Public Service

Maura Yates is currently with Arizona Public Service and has been working in the sustainability field for the past seven years. She has done extensive work researching sustainability and was a selected presenter at the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education Conference. Maura has a robust understanding of both installer and utility requirements for solar development and incorporates this knowledge to improve solar installation standards.