Celebrating Top Solar Companies: Cam Services

Finding qualified solar workers has become one of the more persistent challenges in the industry. Cam Services, a Colorado-based company, has spent the last several years building one of the more thoughtful approaches to solving it: a Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Program that meets workers where they are in the field, on the go, and some more comfortable learning in Spanish than English.

We sat down with Nikki Kasper, Director of Business Strategy, Sarah Taylor, Director of Education, and Lori Dowling, Senior Bilingual Instructional Designer, to learn more about how the program came together and where it’s headed. 

From Construction Management to Workforce Development

Cam Services was founded by Cameron Quinonez, a master electrician and NABCEP-certified professional with a long background in commercial solar construction. Before launching Cam, he ran Solar Purpose, an EPC company that handled large-scale commercial projects. Over time, he started getting calls from employers who needed help developing their people, not just their projects.

“He’s been talking about doing education for probably five or six years,” Nikki said. “But there wasn’t really a concrete way to make it happen.” The Inflation Reduction Act changed that. With new apprenticeship requirements attached to federal incentives, the demand became undeniable, and Cameron decided to build the program he’d been envisioning.

The company still does construction management, quality inspections, and site assessments – Cameron and fellow instructor Evan Smith are currently working through a contract at local public school sites – but the apprenticeship program has become a major focus.

A Program Built for How Solar Work Actually Happens

The Solar PV Technician and Construction Craft Laborer apprenticeship programs are two-year, fully online programs structured around four semesters. Each week, apprentices complete four hours of online coursework – recorded lectures and activities they can access on any device, on their own schedule. That flexibility was intentional. The program is designed for traveling technicians who can’t commit to a weekly live session.

“We tried doing live classes every week,” Nikki explained, “but it turned out people mostly wanted to watch it afterward.” Transitioning to fully asynchronous content freed up Sarah and instructional designer Lori Dowling to focus on quality: better slide decks, better recordings, and more polished post-production.

Apprentices don’t go it alone online, though. The program requires employers to enroll on-site mentors in a one-to-one ratio, so every apprentice has someone in the field to support their on-the-job learning.

Since launching, Cam Services has enrolled over 400 apprentices, partnered with more than 20 employers, and reached workers in 33 states.

Building for a Bilingual Workforce

One of the most significant things Cam Services has done is treat Spanish-language instruction as a core program feature.

Early in the program’s first semester, it became clear that a majority of their apprentices were Spanish speakers. Subtitles and automated translations weren’t cutting it. “To hear it and see it at the same time exponentially increases learning,” Sarah said. “We knew if we were going to have this many Spanish-speaking apprentices, we needed to start recording in Spanish.”

They brought on Gustavo Ferrin, a bilingual instructor and operations manager, who re-recorded early content in Spanish and became the primary point of contact for Spanish-speaking apprentices. More recently, Lori Dowling joined the team as a senior bilingual instructional designer, bringing a master’s degree in Instructional Design & Technology and a background in the field that has elevated both the Spanish and English content across the board. Currently, roughly 40% of CAM’s apprentices complete the program in Spanish.

Getting into Schools

Cam Services is also starting to build relationships with the K-12 system. They recently visited Adams 12, a school district north of Denver that runs a construction program where students spend the year building a tiny house, then donate it to someone in need. This year’s recipient was a young person aging out of the foster care system. The school asked whether Cam could help students add solar to next year’s build. Of course, Cam said yes.

It’s a small project, but it points toward something the team is actively working to expand: bringing solar education into schools earlier, so students can see a career path before they ever apply for a job.

A Public Debut

Cam Services recently published their first publicly available courses on HeatSpring – Introduction to Materials Handling for Solar Construction and Introduction to Materials Handling for Solar Construction- en Espanol – Spanish – that makes their content accessible beyond their direct employer partners for the first time.

For companies looking to invest in workforce development, Cam Services offers a great model with rigorous curriculum, flexible delivery, bilingual instruction built in from the start, and apprentices who stay connected to real mentors on their job sites.