Meet Vaughan Woodruff – Instructor Spotlight Behind every HeatSpring course is an exceptional instructor. Industry veterans who bring hands-on experience, real enthusiasm, and a genuine investment in student success. Online learning has a way of keeping those educators at arm’s length, even when their impact is… Continue reading “Meet Vaughan Woodruff – Instructor Spotlight”
One Number That Can Zero Out Your Entire Storage Tax Credit Many people building out energy storage projects in 2026 are focused on the headline numbers: the 30% base ITC, the domestic content adder, the energy community bonus. It’s true that math is genuinely exciting. It’s worth noting that there’s a… Continue reading “One Number That Can Zero Out Your Entire Storage Tax Credit”
What to Expect When You Get Your NABCEP Exam Results Sitting for a NABCEP exam is a big deal. You’ve put in the study hours, met the eligibility requirements, and made it all the way to test day. Once you get there, a natural next question is: now what? We… Continue reading “What to Expect When You Get Your NABCEP Exam Results”
What is Root Cause Analysis? Why is It Important for O&M Techs? When something goes wrong on a solar or battery energy storage system, the fastest fix is not always the right one. Hitting a reset, swapping a component, or clearing a fault code without understanding why it happened in the first… Continue reading “What is Root Cause Analysis? Why is It Important for O&M Techs?”
New Free Course – Smart Investments: Certifications and Licenses That Pay Off Credentials cost time, money, and energy. Knowing which ones are actually worth it can make a real difference in your solar career. HeatSpring is excited to host a new free course from Solar for Women: Smart Investments: Certifications and Licenses… Continue reading “New Free Course – Smart Investments: Certifications and Licenses That Pay Off”
New Course: Basics of Commissioning on Utility-Scale Solar Commissioning is where a solar construction site becomes a power plant. It’s also where schedule delays get expensive fast, defects cost more to fix than they did during construction, and the utility, owner’s engineer, lender’s engineer, and equipment vendors all… Continue reading “New Course: Basics of Commissioning on Utility-Scale Solar”
Wes Kennedy Just Updated “Energy Storage Finance.” Here’s What’s New. The energy storage market moves fast, and lucky for us, HeatSpring instructor Wes Kennedy has kept pace. The U.S. installed a record 57 gigawatt-hours of new battery storage capacity in 2025, a 29% increase over the previous year, and the… Continue reading “Wes Kennedy Just Updated “Energy Storage Finance.” Here’s What’s New.”
Solar Job Spotlight: Head of Growth at a Solar Field Operations Software Company For folks just starting out in solar, it can be easy to feel like you need to take the most direct path from Point A to Point B. The truth is, that’s not always how it goes. Tori Clifford’s story… Continue reading “Solar Job Spotlight: Head of Growth at a Solar Field Operations Software Company”
The Interconnection Review Process, Explained A clean energy customer’s excitement can fade fast if their project hits a roadblock. One day they’re signing a contract, the next they’re asking you why nothing has happened. The answer is often interconnection. If you work in a customer-facing… Continue reading “The Interconnection Review Process, Explained “
What Happens When AI Writes Battery Software HeatSpring instructor Peter Gruenbaum spent years writing software that tells batteries when to charge and when to discharge on utility-scale energy projects. When he built his course on battery energy management systems for HeatSpring, he leaned into AI as a… Continue reading “What Happens When AI Writes Battery Software “
Nonprofit Spotlight: Browning the Green Space For many community college students in Massachusetts, clean energy is a field they’ve heard of but can’t quite describe. They might know they’re interested in solar, or that someone mentioned battery storage, but the breadth of the industry is largely… Continue reading “Nonprofit Spotlight: Browning the Green Space”
Don’t Miss the PNW’s Biggest Solar + Storage Conference This April The Pacific Northwest solar and storage industry has a big gathering coming up, and HeatSpring is excited to spread the word! The PNW Solar + Storage Conference takes place April 28–30, 2026, at the Hilton Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington. This… Continue reading “Don’t Miss the PNW’s Biggest Solar + Storage Conference This April”
Don’t Have the Exact NABCEP Documentation Required? Here’s What to Do This can be a common challenge for utility-scale solar professionals pursuing NABCEP Board Certification. If you’re working toward your NABCEP PV Installation Professional (or most NABCEP Board Certifications), you’ll need to submit your decision-making role experience before you can sit… Continue reading “Don’t Have the Exact NABCEP Documentation Required? Here’s What to Do”
New Course: SCADA Communication Systems for Utility-Scale Solar The U.S. added 34.7 GW of utility-scale solar capacity in 2025, according to SEIA and Wood Mackenzie’s Solar Market Insight Year in Review. That’s a lot of plants being commissioned, handed over, and turned over to O&M teams, many of… Continue reading “New Course: SCADA Communication Systems for Utility-Scale Solar”
Have Certification Questions? Bring Them to Our Monthly Live Q&A Unless you’re working with certifications every single day, it’s easy to lose track of the details. We happen to be, and we’re happy to answer your questions. Our monthly Let’s Talk Certifications: Live Q&A sessions are here to help you… Continue reading “Have Certification Questions? Bring Them to Our Monthly Live Q&A”
New Free Course: Finding a Job, Networking, and Diversifying from Solar for Women The solar industry isn’t always an easy space to break into. For women looking to join the trades, the path can feel even less straightforward. Solar for Women, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and nonbinary individuals in the solar… Continue reading “New Free Course: Finding a Job, Networking, and Diversifying from Solar for Women”
New Course: Pre-Construction in Utility-Scale Solar The subcontractors you select, the contracts you put in place, and the commercial foundations you establish before construction starts will shape every aspect of project execution. A well-run pre-construction (pre-con) process is one of the highest-leverage things an EPC can… Continue reading “New Course: Pre-Construction in Utility-Scale Solar”
New Course: Owning the Customer Interconnection Experience Many people get introduced to interconnection the same way: someone hands them a stack of utility paperwork and says, we need these filed. So they do. They submit the applications. Then a problem comes up, and they realize there’s a… Continue reading “New Course: Owning the Customer Interconnection Experience”
What It Takes to Succeed in the Trades – Welding Program Supervisor Rachel Henry Rachel Henry knows what it looks like to be a welding student, and what it looks like to teach one. She was a 4.0 student, award nominee, and self-described “absolute sponge” in welding school. Now, as Welding Program Supervisor at… Continue reading “What It Takes to Succeed in the Trades – Welding Program Supervisor Rachel Henry”
Stop Losing Paid Seats When Team Members Move On If you’re a team training leader, you’ve probably run into this: someone leaves the company or changes roles before they’ve barely started a course, and a paid enrollment just sits there unused and forgotten. We care about helping you maximize… Continue reading “Stop Losing Paid Seats When Team Members Move On”