FREE REPORT: Gain Access to the ~290,258 LIDAR Identified Solar-Ready Roofs in Massachusetts This article was originally published on Faze1’s blog and re-printed with permission. The above picture is a heat map of the best and worst towns for residential solar based on proprietary LIDAR analysis created by Faze1. Download the full report to get a… Continue reading “FREE REPORT: Gain Access to the ~290,258 LIDAR Identified Solar-Ready Roofs in Massachusetts”
Free Solar Design Tool: String Sizing Tool For Commercial Solar Projects That Works with All Inverters One of the most important aspects of designing a solar array is sizing module strings to operate within the parameters of the selected inverter. This is especially true for commercial and megawatt solar projects. To help in this process, we’re… Continue reading “Free Solar Design Tool: String Sizing Tool For Commercial Solar Projects That Works with All Inverters”
The Top Challenges with Technical Qualification for Commercial Solar Projects This article will provide a snapshot of the current technical challenges that engineers and project managers face with the technical qualification of solar projects. Project qualification is a critical part of the commercial solar sales process. It’s where sales, technical… Continue reading “The Top Challenges with Technical Qualification for Commercial Solar Projects”
Solar Leases vs. Solar Loans vs. Utility Rates vs. Cash Purchase (Used with permission. Source: http://cinnamonsolar.com/about-us/lease-borrow-or-buy/) The graph above is one of my favorites about the residential solar industry. It explains exactly why residential solar leasing is dying. It was created by Barry Cinnamon from Cinnamon Solar as a sales tool… Continue reading “Solar Leases vs. Solar Loans vs. Utility Rates vs. Cash Purchase”
[Interview] Lessons Learned Developing Community Solar in Washington State (Source: Joe Deets from Community Solar Solutions. Used with permission) Today, I have a great interview for you community solar development lessons learned. I spoke with Joe Deets from Community Solar Solutions in Washington State. Joe was responsible for lobbying… Continue reading “[Interview] Lessons Learned Developing Community Solar in Washington State”
Part 3 – Step-by-Step Process for Screening Land for Solar Development This is the third article in a three-part series about outlining the process for purchasing land with the intent to lease it to a solar developer. This is a personal project, but I felt it would be fun and appropriate… Continue reading “Part 3 – Step-by-Step Process for Screening Land for Solar Development”
Part 2 – Solar Development Risks 101 This article is the second part of a three-part series about how to identify land that is suitable for developing a ground-mount solar project in Massachusetts. The inspiration for this post is my personal interest in acquiring land to lease to… Continue reading “Part 2 – Solar Development Risks 101”
Vote: Top 6 Finalists in HeatSpring’s Solar Startup Competition It’s time to start the voting for HeatSpring’s Solar Startup Alley competition. ***QUICK REMINDER: A vote means that you’re ACTUALLY interested in scheduling a sales call or demo with the company that you choose!*** On December 1st, 2014, we introduced our… Continue reading “Vote: Top 6 Finalists in HeatSpring’s Solar Startup Competition”
[Interview] Grid Storage Economics and Policy 101 There has been a huge amount of buzz about storage lately with more press hitting every week. SCE signed 250MW worth of contracts, Sandia is investing in battery reliability studies, the Navy is investing in micro-grids, Texas is evaluating storage, and New Jersey has issued… Continue reading “[Interview] Grid Storage Economics and Policy 101”
How Wall Street Capital Is Standardizing Commercial Solar Due Diligence NOTE: If you’re coming from HeatSpring’s newsletter and you want to watch the video presentation, please scroll down near the bottom of the article. One of the largest trends happening in solar right now is Wall Street capital flooding into… Continue reading “How Wall Street Capital Is Standardizing Commercial Solar Due Diligence”
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Sell Your Commercial Solar Projects to Investors In this video, Noel Lafayette from SHR Energy discusses in step-by-step detail what a commercial solar developer needs do to sell a project to a solar fund. If you’re curious, I interviewed Noel in the beginning of 2014. The article… Continue reading “Step-by-Step Guide on How to Sell Your Commercial Solar Projects to Investors”
How Commercial Real Estate Owners Deal with Solar PPA Pricing Risk In the 10-minute video above, Darien Crimmin, VP of Energy and Sustainability for WinnDevelopment, describes how he looks at the pricing risk of signing solar PPAs from the perspective of a large property owner. WinnDevelopment has a $2.5 billion real-estate… Continue reading “How Commercial Real Estate Owners Deal with Solar PPA Pricing Risk”
Apply for HeatSpring’s Online Solar Startup Alley* Competition – Deadline: December 12th *Startups include small businesses and new ventures with revenues of less than $1 million. I’m really excited to announce our online solar startup competition. We created the competition because we noticed within our 6-week Solar Startup Accelerator that the single largest… Continue reading “Apply for HeatSpring’s Online Solar Startup Alley* Competition – Deadline: December 12th”
What Commercial Solar Developers Need to Know about Yieldcos If you’d like to listen the interview, please scroll to the middle of the article. There’s been a huge amount of buzz about yieldcos and their potential impact on financing more commercial solar projects by providing cheaper capital. There have been… Continue reading “What Commercial Solar Developers Need to Know about Yieldcos”
How Massachusett’s Alternative Energy Credit Prices Will Impact Heat Pump and Biomass Operating Costs We passed the Massachusetts “Clean Heat Bill” in July 2014. The final bill number is S. 2214. The bill created a production-based incentive, similar to solar PV renewable energy credits (SRECs), for renewable thermal technologies including solar thermal, air source heat… Continue reading “How Massachusett’s Alternative Energy Credit Prices Will Impact Heat Pump and Biomass Operating Costs”
Community Solar 101 There’s been a lot of buzz about community solar lately. While the amount of investment in community solar projects is a fraction of the investment of the entire solar industry, there are a few leaders who recognize the incredible potential… Continue reading “Community Solar 101”
How to Handle Unknown Risk to Increase Solar Project Success Image: Universe of Issues, Risks, and Challenges This is a guest article from Chris Lord, Managing Director at CapIron, Inc. He’s a former lawyer with extensive banking experience who now consults with solar developers and investors. I’ve never met anyone… Continue reading “How to Handle Unknown Risk to Increase Solar Project Success”
Why Performance and Not Price Is the Most Important Factor In Finding an Investor or Buyer for Your Solar Projects Question or comments? If you’re a solar developer or investor and have a story to share that relates to this article or a question about the content, please leave it in the comment section below the article. This is a… Continue reading “Why Performance and Not Price Is the Most Important Factor In Finding an Investor or Buyer for Your Solar Projects”
AC Coupling – How to Cost Effectively Add Battery Back-up to Existing Grid-Tied Solar PV systems This is a guest article by Chris LaForge. Chris is teaching an in-depth 6-week technical training on designing battery based solar PV systems that starts in September. You can read the full description and get a limited-time discount here. If… Continue reading “AC Coupling – How to Cost Effectively Add Battery Back-up to Existing Grid-Tied Solar PV systems”
Three Keys to Developing Bankable Solar Projects – Lessons from Developing 150 MW+ of Solar Projects Thanks to Chris Lord and Keith Cronin for providing all of the insights in this article. Chris and Keith teach our Solar Executive MBA course (the next session starts on September 15th). Together, they have advised investors, owners, and other… Continue reading “Three Keys to Developing Bankable Solar Projects – Lessons from Developing 150 MW+ of Solar Projects”