ECSA and SAIEE CPD accredited solar training
CPD Accreditation for Electrical Engineers


The ECSA’s core functions are the accreditation of engineering programmes, registration of persons as professionals in specified categories, and the regulation of the practice of registered persons.


As a professional training provider we place emphasis on industry-led accreditation. Apart from the PV GreenCard accreditation, CPD accreditation by ECSA, validated by SAIEE is important for us.
South African CPD Accreditation by SAIEE
GREEN Solar Academy is an ECSA-accredited training provider. ECSA stands for the Engineering Council of South Africa. Several of our courses were awarded with CPD accreditation by the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE):
(CPD validation SAIEE-3237-RV1)
(CPD validation SAIEE-3256-RV1)
(CPD validation SAIEE-3239-V)
(CPD validation SAIEE-3238-V)
What is CPD?
CPD, or Continuing Professional Development, is a way to keep track of and record the time you spend on training, your growing knowledge, expertise, and experiences beyond your everyday work. It’s a program designed to encourage members of professional bodies to improve their academic and professional skills. These skills are recognized in the form of CPD points or hours.
In South Africa, CPD points are granted through membership in a professional body. These bodies also approve CPD-accredited courses. Upon completing these courses, participants receive CPD points, which they can claim through their professional body membership.
Members of these professional bodies usually need to gather a certain number of CPD points or hours within a specific period. With some professional bodies, CPD is the only way that you can stay professionally registered.
ECSA members need 25 CPD credits every 5 years
For instance, the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) mandates that registered practitioners need to accumulate at least twenty-five (25) CPD credits over a five-year period in order to renew their registration.
Since 2017 our courses have been endorsed by SAIEE. And every 3 years we are required to renew the validation, which involves undergoing an extensive evaluation process to show that the training programme, the trainers and the venues continue to meet the requirements of SAIEE/ECSA.
It is due to this endorsement that participants are able to earn Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points for attending these courses.
Points earned vary depending on the hours involved, from 1 CPD point for 8 hours’ learning to 5 points for 40 hours’ learning. The constant accumulation of CPD points is frequently a requirement to be able to retain membership of SAIEE and other professional bodies. And thus it makes sense for GREEN to be endorsed by the SAIEE and offer CPD points to the professionals who attend our short trainings.
You can verify which service providers and courses are accredited for CPD by visiting the SAIEE website.
QCTO accreditation requires a bigger time commitment
Very often participants ask if our courses are accredited with QCTO, the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations. The short answer is that, yes, GREEN Solar Academy has QCTO-accreditation. To understand how the accreditation is relevant, it is helpful to understand the role of the QCTO, which is to oversee the design, implementation, assessment and certification of occupational qualifications.
It must be noted that while a company may hold a QCTO accreditation for a course or courses, as GREEN does, the accreditation may not necessarily apply for the specific course being recommended for the training. As is the case with the QCTO certificates issued for Solar Photovoltaic Standalone Systems, the hours required to earn each of these full qualifications (25 days and up per qualification) is largely unfeasible for those who have limited free time to devote to training.
Want maximum impact that builds upon existing knowledge ASAP?
At GREEN we do not offer full qualifications; instead we offer short-term professional courses, ideal for continuous education. Our courses target professionals who already have a qualification or work experience, who want to upskill their knowledge or prepare themselves to start to work in the PV industry. The professionals are mostly already employed and have limited hours to dedicate to further education. They desire maximum impact that builds upon their existing knowledge in the shortest possible time. And this is why our courses are SAIEE accredited.

Planning the module layout and wiring

Fixing modules to mounting structure

Trunking and wiring to inverter