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Technician or engineer? Who has technical responsibility for photovoltaic systems?
Until recently, the duties of higher-level technicians in the areas of mechanics, electrical engineering and similar areas were governed by the Crea/Confea system (Federal Council of Engineering and Agronomy).
Recently, the technical category migrated to a new class entity, the recently created CFT (Federal Council of Industrial Technicians).
In the category of engineers, only the electrician has the duties to design and execute photovoltaic projects, according to article 8 of resolution no. 218, of 29/06/1973 of Crea/Confea.
But a question has always hovered over the photovoltaic market: can electrical technicians sign solar generation projects?
The answer for a long time was perhaps, at least in the DG (distributed generation) segment, as some electricity concessionaires refused the ART (Technical Responsibility Note) issued by a technician, even though this category was supported by article 4th of Decree No. 90,922, of 02/06/1985, which provides for the exercise of the profession of technician medium or 2nd degree industrial level: “§ 2º The technical in electrical engineering will be able to design and direct electrical installations with energy demands of up to 800 kVA, as well as working as a draftsman in his specialty”.
Concessionaires that only accepted ART issued by an engineer used the justification that technicians, according to Crea/Confea resolutions, were allowed to design electrical installations, but not electrical generators.
According to some interpretations, photovoltaic plants are generators and the technical responsibility for design and installation is the prerogative of the electrical engineer. On the other hand, REN 674 (Normative Resolution 674/2015) of ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) already explained the following:
“Electrical installation: set of equipment necessary for the operation of an electrical system. Distribution lines, networks and substations, transmission lines and generation plants are examples of electrical installations.”
What changed with this split in councils? Technicians will pay their annual fees to CFT instead of paying to Crea. And, life goes on, except for one small detail: technicians were prevented from signing photovoltaic generation projects by deliberation of the Crea/Confea system. Once disconnected from the latter, they explicitly received CFT authorization for all types of generation.
The publication of resolution no. 74 of the CFT, of 07/05/2019, brought the following. Article 1O of the resolution resolves that:
And finally article 5O resolves that: 
Highlight the “technical” error in Art. 5O: energy and power are different things. The demand is for power, not energy. And “KVA” is actually spelled kVA, according to the SIU nomenclature (International System of Units).
Until then, there appears to be no difference between the duties of industrial technicians, originally determined by the Crea/Confea system, and the duties now determined by the CFT. The limitation on projects up to 800 kVA already existed and this has not changed. The new feature is in article 3O, which explicitly mentions the prerogative of the industrial technician in the design of photovoltaic systems:
According to articles 1O, 3O and 5O of resolution NO 74 of the CFT, industrial technicians can design, execute and inspect all types of photovoltaic solar energy installations up to a power of 800 kVA.
A deeper question, however, should still raise a long debate in Brazilian society: can councils compete among themselves to define the professional responsibilities that regulate the quality and safety of equipment, installations and constructions in Brazil? Can the council from one category embrace responsibilities from another? The debate promises to be long.
Examples of questions that appear to be unanswered in the CFT x CREA imbroglio:
- Can a building technician design a building and carry out its structural calculations?
- Can a mechanical technician design and perform finite element analysis of a metal truss bridge?
- Can an electrical technician design a photovoltaic solar plant in all its details, taking care of issues such as grounding, material specifications, components and protection selectivity?
Apparently, from a legal perspective, both categories are authorized to design photovoltaic systems, respecting the 800 kVA limitation. It will be up to the market to decide between one professional and another.
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This article does not intend to defend or criticize either category. The issue is delicate and the debate must be carried out within professional councils and confederations.
19 Responses
I thought some of the comments made here were good, they really add up!
I am a young man aged 56, retired by the state of RJ, I have always worked as a residential electrician; I am finishing the Electrical Technician Course and starting the Internship. I will be starting the Generation Course in Photovoltaic Systems and Home Automation. According to the comments described above, I completely agree that having titles does not mean having competence; I only intend to perform the services for which I am qualified and not stop qualifying and taking advantage, within my qualifications, of this world of electrical engineering, after all, it is a lot of responsibility to have a title in hand.
Thank you for the good comments because it is also a way to learn a new path!
success to everyone!
Apparently this is restricted to electrical technicians.
There are many engineers who do not know how to read a project, let alone issue one, electrical technicians often have more knowledge,
Can an electromechanical technician design and sign a photovoltaic plant project?
Mr. Rogerio: Works in Mariana and Brumadinho contained a very large technical team with the entire technical structure made up of engineers and technicians, including technical reports prepared by engineers in the area. The nightclub fire was also designed and worked by an engineer. responsible, and the beer factory only opened because it had a license and registered formulas and with a resp. technician. The problem seems to have another origin and is the famous jeitinho and bribery. Companies with large electrical systems are not uncommon and only engineers can sign these and there is another factor that comes into play: not every qualified professional is qualified for the role.
Sir, 800 kva converting to kw, it is = 640 kw. This with a power factor demand of 0.8%. However, with the new adjustment, the power factor was modified to (real-effective) = 0.92%, redoing the calculations, it becomes valid: 736kw. Also, the possibility of an electrical technician is being processed in the CFT: creating and signing projects, of 1 Mega Watt
Can a Mechanical Engineer carry out photovoltaic projects and issue ART accordingly?
I am very interested in establishing some courses that I have already taken, as I have also worked on the implementation of the 4 MW Photovoltaic Plant in Oiapoque
Can an Industrial Automation technician sign a photovoltaic project?
The industrial automation technician cannot “sign” projects for electrical energy generation systems, as his training took place in the area of automation and not in the area of electrical energy systems. If in doubt, your class council should be consulted.
Wouldn't 800 kVA be higher power generators? I imagined that in a photovoltaic generator 800 kVA would be something closer to 800 KWp.
In short, little flour, my pirão first. The important thing is to generate jobs and savings for everyone. If you sign, you are responsible and if you have courage and competence, sign, because what you cannot do is a universe of incompetent people working in different sectors, with and without advice, who if they were good, hell would be paved.
In short, little flour, my pirão first. The important thing is to generate jobs and savings for everyone. If you sign, you are responsible and if you have courage and competence, sign, because what you cannot do is a universe of incompetent people working in different sectors, with and without Class Councils, who if they were good, hell would be paved.
One observation, I am an electrician in a large company and we have transformers from 112kVa to 900kVa and I know how big they are, so a power of 800kVa nominally supports 100 6.4kW homes. Someone agree with me.
The eternal discussion of which came first, the chicken or the egg….the CFT made it clear that electrical technicians can execute and design photovoltaic systems of up to 800kVa, that is, up to 6.4 KW in the average system of a residence today.
Examples of animals are: pigs, cows, people, etc.
With this definition, can veterinarians act as doctors?
The definition of Veterinary Medicine expressly excludes the animal Homo sapiens sapiens. The definition of an Electrical Technician expressly includes “developing projects and executing electrical installations and maintenance of networks from various generating sources, such as (…) Solar – photovoltaic, obtained by sunlight”.
So, yes, the Electrical Technician is qualified.
And by the way, the projects for the Brumadinho and Mariana dams were signed by Engineers.
Technicians are only responsible for electrical installations! Generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy These are exclusive activities of electrical engineers who are responsible for article 8 of resolution 218/1973- CONFEA! Engineering is a risky activity with high potential to harm society, and we have examples: Mariana, Brumadinho, fire in a nightclub (as reported in the media), contamination in a beer factory, etc. Therefore, only those who have the appropriate training and professional qualifications should carry out such activities.
ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), already explained the following:
“Electrical installation: set of equipment necessary for the operation of an electrical system. Distribution lines, networks and substations, transmission lines and generation plants are examples of electrical installations.”
If ANEEL specifies this, then an electrical technician does have duties for this, limited to up to 800kVa regardless of voltage.