Each year at our annual Continuing Education Conference, NABCEP pays tribute to the life and spirit of Walt Ratterman with the “Walt Ratterman Award.” Recipients of this award have done outstanding work over the past year to promote an increased quality of life through creative renewable energy projects. If you know someone who meets the criteria below, please nominate them today to be considered for this prestigious award!

The annual Walt Ratterman Award  was created to recognize and honor Walt Ratterman, one of NABCEP’s first Board Certified Professionals, who was killed while working in Haiti when a devastating earthquake struck. Walt’s astonishing renewable energy work among some of the worlds most needy was truly inspirational. Walt channeled his efforts into the non-profit company he co-founded, Sun Energy Power International. The company’s mission was “to promote an increased quality of life in remote, rural regions of the world through the use of renewable energy.” By developing this award, we hope that Walt’s legacy will continue to inspire other renewable energy installers to follow his formidable lead.

The Award will be presented during the 2025 NABCEP Continuing Education Conference held in  Reno, NV  from March 24 – 27, 2025 and NABCEP will donate $500 to the charity of the winner’s choice.

To review the award scoring rubric, click here.

The Walt Ratterman Award will be presented to the NABCEP Board Certified Professional who does the most creative public service-oriented renewable energy project of the year. installations can be domestic or offshore and the individual can be paid for their work, but they must be performed at no charge for the not-for-profit or charitable organization.

Considerations such as legacy, local labor and material content, on–the-job-training and project sustainability will help guide the award committee.

Nominees for the award must be a member of the NABCEP community.

Nominations should include details of the individual nominated, their projects, and the nominator’s reasons for the nomination.  Nominations can be submitted through the Award Nomination Form or they can be emailed to Shawn O’Brien President & CEO at [email protected]. Nominations for the award will be accepted until November 1, 2024.

Walt Ratterman went from shop boy to Senior Vice President in the fifteen years he did work for projects with Foley Electric, Inc. (one of America’s largest electrical contractors). He subsequently founded TRC Electrical Construction Services, a commercial electrical contracting firm installing solar PV systems in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 2003, Walt was one of the first PV installers to pass the rigorous North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) certification exam. He earned a master of Science degree in Renewable Energy from Murdoch University in Australia, and had extensive renewable energy design and installation experience internationally.

Walt’s hands-on PV experience included residential and commercial PV installations in the eastern U.S., as well as rural solar PV installations in Nicaragua, the Galapagos Islands, southern Ecuador, Peru, Arunachal Pradesh in India, Burma, Thailand, and Rwanda with NGO organizations such as Solar Energy International and Knightsbridge International. A Commissioner of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, Walt participated in humanitarian relief efforts in other diverse developing nations including Afghanistan, southern Philippines, and Cambodia.