Checked against primary sources 2026-09-07

New, and dated

Colorado Photovoltaic Installer Registration: Dec 31

Colorado has a sixth electrical credential that did not exist a year ago, it has a hard deadline of December 31, 2026, and as of early September the application does not exist yet. If you install solar in Colorado, this page is the one to keep a tab on.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

The deadline, in the Board's words

The State Electrical Board's applications page carries three sentences about this and all three matter.

Senate Bill 25-165 requires Photovoltaic Installers to register with the State Electrical Board no later than December 31, 2026.

Applications for Photovoltaic Installers will be available in late 2026.

Please ensure that you apply as soon as possible once applications become available to ensure that your registration is completed before December 31, 2026.

Read together, that is a deadline you cannot start work on yet and a warning that the window will be short. Check the Board's page rather than waiting for a letter.

Who has to register

C.R.S. 12-115-110(7) aims it at a contractor that is operating as of September 1, 2025, and that performs work as a photovoltaic installer pursuant to section 40-2-128 with at least one NABCEP-certified employee. That contractor shall register as a photovoltaic installer with the board on or before December 31, 2026.

So this is a company registration rather than a personal card, and the September 1, 2025 date is written into both the statute and the Board's own conditions.

What is not published anywhere we could read is what happens to a company that started after September 1, 2025, or to a company that has no NABCEP certified employee. Those are Board questions, and the answers are not on the page.

The five conditions the Board lists

Quoted from the Board's applications page, in its own order.

• Employ at least one NABCEP Certified employee.
• Have a designated agent(s).
• If the agent(s) are no longer employed with the Photovoltaic Installer, the registration is invalid and cannot be reinstated.
• Be in good standing with the State and registered with the Colorado Secretary of State.
• Have been performing Photovoltaic Installation work on or before September 1, 2025.

The third one is the one to plan around. On the Board's wording the registration is not suspended when the designated agent goes, it is invalid and cannot be reinstated. Compare that with the electrical contractor registration, which sits in a Need Master Hire status and waits.

Solar hours now count toward the electrician licenses

The same statute opened a door in the other direction. C.R.S. 12-115-110(6)(a) gives three routes, not one.

• (6)(a)(I) Two thousand hours as a NABCEP PV installation professional working for or working as a photovoltaic installer.
• (6)(a)(II) Up to two thousand hours worked under the supervision of a NABCEP PV installation professional, with proof of employment and an affidavit from that supervisor.
• (6)(a)(III) Up to four thousand hours as a NABCEP PV installation professional where the applicant files payroll records, work orders, project descriptions or other relevant materials documenting significant solar industry work that qualifies as electrical hours.

Subsection (6)(b) then halves the second and the third: for every two hours that an applicant works as described in subsection (6)(a)(II) or (6)(a)(III) of this section, the applicant earns one hour. So route II yields at most 1,000 hours of credit, route III at most 2,000, and someone on route III works 4,000 hours to earn what route I earns in 2,000.

The subsections it credits are 12-115-110(2)(a)(I) and (3)(a), which are the journeyman 8,000 hours and the residential wireman 4,000 hours. The hours page has the rest of the routes.

A photovoltaic installer can supervise an apprentice

The definition of direct supervision at C.R.S. 12-115-103 now names the photovoltaic installer alongside the master electrician, journeyman electrician and residential wireman. The test is the same: the supervisor is physically present at the same physical address where the apprentice is working.

That is a quiet change with real effect on a solar crew, because it means the registration carries supervisory standing that it would not otherwise have.

The three apprentice per licensed electrician ratio in C.R.S. 12-115-115(1) is written around a licensed electrician, and we have not found a published statement on how it applies to a registered photovoltaic installer. Ask the Board rather than assuming either answer.

What is not published yet

We would rather list the gaps than fill them.

There is no fee. C.R.S. 12-115-117(1)(m) authorizes a fee for photovoltaic installer registration and sets no amount, and the Board publishes none.

There is no application form, no renewal cycle and no continuing education requirement in print, because applications are not open. There is no count of registrations, because the credential does not appear in DORA's roster codes or the open data license types yet.

And there is no published penalty for missing December 31, 2026. The statute states the duty, not the consequence, on the text we read.

What to do between now and December

A few things can be done before the form exists.

Confirm your Colorado Secretary of State registration is current and in good standing, because that is one of the five conditions and it is the one you can fix today.

Work out who your designated agent will be and how you would replace one, given the Board's wording that the registration is invalid and cannot be reinstated if the agent leaves.

Check the NABCEP certification of the employee you are relying on, including its expiry, and check the Board's applications page on a schedule rather than waiting for a notice.

Questions people ask

Who has to register as a photovoltaic installer in Colorado?

The statute aims it at a contractor operating as of September 1, 2025 that performs photovoltaic installer work under section 40-2-128 with at least one NABCEP-certified employee. It is a company registration, not a personal license.

When is the Colorado photovoltaic installer deadline?

December 31, 2026. The Board says applications will be available in late 2026 and asks people to apply as soon as they open so the registration is completed before the deadline.

What does the photovoltaic installer registration cost?

No figure is published. C.R.S. 12-115-117(1)(m) authorizes a fee for photovoltaic installer registration and sets no amount, and no reachable state page prints one.

What happens if my designated agent leaves?

The Board's condition says that if the agents are no longer employed with the photovoltaic installer, the registration is invalid and cannot be reinstated. That is stricter than the contractor registration, which waits in a Need Master Hire status.

Do solar hours count toward a Colorado electrician license?

Yes, on three routes. C.R.S. 12-115-110(6)(a) allows 2,000 hours as a NABCEP PV installation professional, up to 2,000 hours supervised by one, or up to 4,000 hours backed by payroll records and project documentation, credited toward the journeyman 8,000 hours or the residential wireman 4,000. Subsection (6)(b) credits the second and third at one hour for every two worked.

Can a photovoltaic installer supervise an apprentice?

The definition of direct supervision at C.R.S. 12-115-103 names the photovoltaic installer, with the same physical presence test as the other supervisors. How the three apprentice ratio applies to that registration is not published, so ask the Board.

What this page cites

• State Electrical Board applications page The Board's own photovoltaic installer block, including the December 31, 2026 deadline, the late 2026 application timing and the five conditions. Read 7 September 2026. source
• C.R.S. 12-115-110(6) and (7) Creates the registration duty for contractors operating as of September 1, 2025 and sets the three photovoltaic experience routes in subsection (6), two of which credit at one hour for every two worked. source
• Senate Bill 25-165 The bill the Board links from its applications page as the source of the registration requirement. source
• C.R.S. 12-115-103, definitions Names the photovoltaic installer inside the definition of direct supervision. source
• C.R.S. 12-115-117, fees Authorizes a photovoltaic installer registration fee at subsection (1)(m) and sets no amount. source