NABCEP Certification = Higher Salary (70% of the Time) The NABCEP PV Installation Professional Certification is the gold standard for solar installers. Passing the test is notoriously hard. NABCEP doesn’t publish statistics but the general consensus is that it’s only around a 50% passing rate. Last month we sent… Continue reading “NABCEP Certification = Higher Salary (70% of the Time)”
DroneDeploy + HeatSpring The world’s most popular drone data platform is teaming up with HeatSpring to get more solar installers using drones. The new free course “How Drone Data Helps Solar Companies” is designed to help growing solar companies understand how other solar… Continue reading “DroneDeploy + HeatSpring”
Utility Distribution Systems & Equipment: A Grid Professional’s Masterclass “Utility Distribution Systems & Equipment” is a new masterclass developed in partnership with Distributech, POWERGRID, and Utilicast. Instructor Tim Taylor developed the course to help utility and and distributed energy professionals level-up in their careers. Here’s a week-by-week breakdown of… Continue reading “Utility Distribution Systems & Equipment: A Grid Professional’s Masterclass”
How to Take Better Solar Pictures With Your Drone This is a guest post from Keith Perry, founder of Hudson Valley Drones. Keith is an instructor in the free course, “Solar + Drones: Managing Lighting, Exposure, and Glare in Your Imagery“. In a previous post, Keith offered up a… Continue reading “How to Take Better Solar Pictures With Your Drone”
New Solar + Drones Course – Managing Lighting, Exposure, and Glare in Your Imagery Creating awesome drone-based 3D models (i.e. photogrammetry) relies on images having similar key points and coloring. This is particularly crucial for accurately designing and analyzing solar projects. A foundational component of this is capturing data with good “exposure”. Join us… Continue reading “New Solar + Drones Course – Managing Lighting, Exposure, and Glare in Your Imagery”
“Drone Pilot Boot Camp” Approved for NABCEP Credit This week our “Drone Pilot Boot Camp” was approved for NABCEP Credit by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP). The course is a comprehensive commercial drone operators course with an emphasis on solar PV and renewable energy.… Continue reading ““Drone Pilot Boot Camp” Approved for NABCEP Credit”
Solar + Drones: What To Do When You Crash Your Drone This is a guest post from Keith Perry, founder of Hudson Valley Drones. Keith is an instructor in the free course, “Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees“. In his previous post, Keith offered up a Solar… Continue reading “Solar + Drones: What To Do When You Crash Your Drone”
Solar Company Guide to Drone Hardware This is a guest post from Keith Perry, founder of Hudson Valley Drones. Keith is an instructor in the free course, “Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees“. Before we go into this in more detail, it’s… Continue reading “Solar Company Guide to Drone Hardware”
Deciduous vs. Evergreen: Solutions for Flying Drones in Every Season This is the third guest post from David Williams, founder of Northwest Drone Pros, in a series on best practices for flying drones around trees. The last post covered “in-flight tips“. David is an instructor in the free course, “Solar… Continue reading “Deciduous vs. Evergreen: Solutions for Flying Drones in Every Season”
Part 2 Solar + Drones: During Flight Tips for Flying Around Trees This is the second guest post from David Williams, founder of Northwest Drone Pros, in a series of posts on best practices for flying drones around trees. The first post covered “pre-flight tips“. David is an instructor in the free… Continue reading “Part 2 Solar + Drones: During Flight Tips for Flying Around Trees”
Solar + Drones: Pre-Flight Tips for Flying Around Trees This is a guest post from David Williams, founder of Northwest Drone Pros. David is an instructor in the free course, “Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees“. Washington is a unique area because we have such… Continue reading “Solar + Drones: Pre-Flight Tips for Flying Around Trees”
“Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees” – A New Free Course for Solar Companies Using Drones Flying around trees is the #1 biggest challenge facing solar companies that use drones. So Scanifly, Northwest Drone Pros, Hudson Valley Drones, and HeatSpring are collaborating on a new free course: “Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping around Trees“… Continue reading ““Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees” – A New Free Course for Solar Companies Using Drones”
New Free Course: Drones, 3D Mapping and LiDAR in Solar We’re really excited to announce our partnership with Scanifly software. They’ve released a new free course that helps solar companies understand how drones can be used to improve operations and lower the cost of delivering solar. The 76-minute lecture talks… Continue reading “New Free Course: Drones, 3D Mapping and LiDAR in Solar”
What Happens in the Drone Pilot Boot Camp? The “Drone Pilot Boot Camp + Part 107 Exam Prep” course is twelve weeks long. It’s different from every other drone course because it combines several key experiences you need to really do the job. Before diving in it’s fair… Continue reading “What Happens in the Drone Pilot Boot Camp?”
Non-Obvious Skills Needed in the Solar Industry This week I had the honor of participating in the first-ever SunCast Summit on Earth Day. The “Impact Your Career” session was a panel discussion between Shawn O’Brien (NABCEP), Brian Mehalic (Solar Energy International), Nico Johnson (SunCast), and me. I… Continue reading “Non-Obvious Skills Needed in the Solar Industry”
New Free Course: Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Financing PACE financing (property assessed clean energy financing) is a means of financing energy efficiency upgrades, disaster resiliency improvements, water conservation measures, or renewable energy upgrades to buildings through property taxes. This free 12-minute lecture: “Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Financing”… Continue reading “New Free Course: Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Financing”
60 Questions You’ll Probably See on Your Drone Pilot License Exam Today we’ve made a new free course available for anyone interested in becoming a licensed commercial drone pilot. Enroll in the “FAA Part 107 Practice Test” to take your free practice exam and get some tips from Keven Gambold on… Continue reading “60 Questions You’ll Probably See on Your Drone Pilot License Exam”
Announcing “Team Dashboards” More groups and teams are using HeatSpring than ever before. We were a little slow to respond do that change, but we just launched ‘Team Dashboards” so people can be more connected with their teammates. Company leaders can view which… Continue reading “Announcing “Team Dashboards””
How Deeply do you Understand Electrical Distribution? For the past thirteen years we’ve focused on power generation. Solar PV is distributed electricity generation. Today we’re announcing a new series of courses focused on electricity distribution. We’ve partnered with DISTRIBUTECH International to bring the most popular content from… Continue reading “How Deeply do you Understand Electrical Distribution?”
Getting Started: Your First Day Flying a Drone “Liz got the hang of things immediately so I envision a long and illustrious Part 107 career for her!” – Instructor Keven Gambold Liz is starting the Drone Pilot Boot Camp in a few weeks, but she had a chance… Continue reading “Getting Started: Your First Day Flying a Drone”