Hampshire College’s R.W. Kern Center achieved zero net energy building status due to its passive solar orientation, high levels of insulation, airtight envelope and triple glazed windows. The building also includes air source heat pumps, and a 118-kW rooftop solar array capable of generating more than enough energy to meet the center’s needs on an […]
To make the most effective use of solar, it’s critical to know when and how a customer is using power–and see if there’s a match between load and solar availability.
While this seems like a simple idea, using a load modeling tool can help potential solar customers uncover details about their usage they hadn’t considered before […]
For many years, the solar industry has followed rules of thumb about oversizing wires to reduce energy losses in solar PV systems.
The rules of thumb call for the PV industry to oversize wires to ensure no more than a 2% voltage drop when transmitting power across conductors. As the energy is transmitted across conductors, power […]
In some parts of the country, the costs of solar-plus-storage are beating grid prices, which is good news for the solar industry and the environment.
For example, in Nevada, regulators in 2019 approved three solar-plus-storage power purchase agreements (PPA) for Berkshire Hathaway Energy ranging from $31/MWh to $37/MWh. In comparison, levelized prices for grid power now […]
When designing a large-scale solar project, it’s critical to tackle classic hang-ups as early as possible to avoid slowing a project and encountering cost overruns, says Ryan Mayfield, instructor, along with Randy Batchelor, of HeatSpring’s Megawatt Design course.
Designers need to break a project down into stages ranging from pre-award to construction and commissioning. For each […]
