How to Complete the Deal by Keeping Solar Financing Simple Developers of small to mid-sized commercial and industrial projects, those under 300 or 400 kW, are often tempted to think about power purchase agreements (PPA) and partnership flips as the one-size-fits-all financing solution for solar projects, says Christopher Lord, instructor… Continue reading “How to Complete the Deal by Keeping Solar Financing Simple”
Solar ITC Extended, Huge Public Market Investment in Solar: What it Means for 2021 The solar industry’s year ended with good news for 2021, and other positive headlines may be coming. Not only did the industry see high public market investment in 2020. The solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) was extended. “The solar industry… Continue reading “Solar ITC Extended, Huge Public Market Investment in Solar: What it Means for 2021”
Democratizing Solar Energy with an ITC Refund The solar industry is lobbying for measures to move solar energy forward during the ongoing pandemic and financial crisis–measures that could help bring solar to more people in the U.S., boost the economy and help meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.… Continue reading “Democratizing Solar Energy with an ITC Refund”
Load Modeling Tool Helps Users Decide How to Best Use Solar, Storage & Controls 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… Continue reading “Load Modeling Tool Helps Users Decide How to Best Use Solar, Storage & Controls”
The Benefits of Standardized Solar Contracts Students in HeatSpring’s newly updated Solar Executive MBA Training Course learn about how to take advantage of a standardized solar contract, one of the course’s important new features. “If you use your own agreement, you need to find an investor… Continue reading “The Benefits of Standardized Solar Contracts”
Transitioning to the Solar Business from Other Industries to Find Rewarding Work The two most active and attentive students in a recent Solar Executive MBA Training course came not from the solar industry but from the Texas oil industry, says Keith Cronin, HeatSpring’s co-instructor of the course. “Both had extensive backgrounds and… Continue reading “Transitioning to the Solar Business from Other Industries to Find Rewarding Work”
Now Open: Live Online Proctoring for all NABCEP Board Certification Exams NABCEP has just announced that all candidates may now schedule to take all NABCEP PV Board Certification and PV Associate credentialing exams through live online proctoring (LOP). You may now schedule to take an exam from your own home! The… Continue reading “Now Open: Live Online Proctoring for all NABCEP Board Certification Exams”
Solar O&M: How Long Your System Lasts Will Depend Upon These 3 Things “Solar is maintenance free”. “Solar panels last for over 20-years”. “The inverter warranty will take care of everything”. “Don’t worry”. You might have heard these things before. You might have believed some of them and maybe for a period of… Continue reading “Solar O&M: How Long Your System Lasts Will Depend Upon These 3 Things”
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”
Help Choose the Solar District Cup 2020 Industry Choice Winner We are excited to invite all HeatSpring students, instructors, and members of our community to participate in the selection of the Industry Choice winner of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar District Cup 2020 Competition Event on Monday April 27th from… Continue reading “Help Choose the Solar District Cup 2020 Industry Choice Winner”
Will 2020 Be a Year You Want to Remember or Forget Look around you. What do you see? Despair? Hope? This experience you are facing is going to move you in one direction or another. In the short term, you are going to be concerned. Just like the rest of us.… Continue reading “Will 2020 Be a Year You Want to Remember or Forget”
Your Second Half of 2020 When we were kids and we were learning how to play a game or a sport, we didn’t know what to do. We sometimes asked for a do-over. Most of us would feel the same way about 2020 up to… Continue reading “Your Second Half of 2020”
NABCEP to Offer Online Certification Exams Update 6/16/2020: Live Online Proctoring is now available for all NABCEP Board Certification and Associate credentialing exams. Due to concerns about the COVID-19 emergency, NABCEP has decided to offer all Board Certification and Associate level exams through live online proctoring (LOP).… Continue reading “NABCEP to Offer Online Certification Exams”
Creating a Flexible Financial Model that Incorporates the ITC Changes It’s not unusual for people in a rush to hard wire some information into the formulas of their financial models for solar projects, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course along with co-instructor Keith Cronin. But… Continue reading “Creating a Flexible Financial Model that Incorporates the ITC Changes”
Coming Soon: Ordering Modular Energy Storage to Meet Electricity Demand When Guests Visit In the near future, energy storage will be modular, and you’ll be able to order or rent energy storage modules when your electricity needs increase, if you have guests, for example. You’ll likely pair the battery storage with solar PV… Continue reading “Coming Soon: Ordering Modular Energy Storage to Meet Electricity Demand When Guests Visit”
Why Peak Shaving Using Energy Storage is a Good Idea Companies can pay high “demand charges” from utilities for using large amounts of energy during their monthly billing cycle. But they can lower these demand charges through solar and strategic use of storage, says Christopher Lord, instructor, along with Keith… Continue reading “Why Peak Shaving Using Energy Storage is a Good Idea”
HeatSpring is the Official Training Platform Provider for DOE Solar District Cup 2020 HeatSpring for Groups is proud to announce we are working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office to provide our industry leading professional training content and educational platform to the participants of the U.S. Department of… Continue reading “HeatSpring is the Official Training Platform Provider for DOE Solar District Cup 2020”
New NABCEP Recertification Requirements Now In Effect NABCEP’s new recertification requirements totaling 30 hours of CEU credits and updated industry involvement requirements have officially taken effect. NABCEP updated their requirements on January 1, 2019 but allowed for a 12 month transition period which has now expired. Visit… Continue reading “New NABCEP Recertification Requirements Now In Effect”
Solar Optimization in 2020 Where are you and solar heading next year? After five days of networking and education in Salt Lake City at the solar conference, a recurring theme emerged. This was across all segments of the solar industry and touched others as… Continue reading “Solar Optimization in 2020”