RETScreen as a Handy Toolbox The following article was written by Michael Ross, Expert Instructor of HeatSpring’s Mastering RETScreen 4 for Clean Energy Project Analysis course– approved for 16 AIA CEUs! RETScreen is the name given to two widely used software tools available for free download from the Government… Continue reading “RETScreen as a Handy Toolbox”
Why SunEdison’s Stock Dropped 50% in 3 Weeks and How You Can Avoid This in Your Own Solar Development SunEdison has climbed up the ladder to become the world’s largest renewable energy service provider, but it has come at a cost. Many people believe that they’re on a trajectory similar to the traditional energy service providers, like Duke Energy,… Continue reading “Why SunEdison’s Stock Dropped 50% in 3 Weeks and How You Can Avoid This in Your Own Solar Development”
Free Tool: Site Lease vs. Buy Modeling Calculator Chris Lord’s FREE Site Lease vs. Buy Modeling Calculator allows users to compare a lease rate against a potential purchase of a solar PV site where the lease rate (including escalator) is known. This tool is used in HeatSpring’s Financial Modeling… Continue reading “Free Tool: Site Lease vs. Buy Modeling Calculator”
Free Lecture: “Economic Optimization of Hybrid Renewable Microgrids” with HOMER Energy There’s no such thing as a cookie-cutter microgrid design. The number of inputs and design choices can be staggering. HOMER Software is the best recognized tool on the planet for microgrid design, and this free lecture will get you up… Continue reading “Free Lecture: “Economic Optimization of Hybrid Renewable Microgrids” with HOMER Energy”
Modeling Your Solar Project’s Cash Flows – When to Increase Granularity In this article, Chris Lord, expert instructor at HeatSpring, lawyer with deep banking experience, and the Managing Director of CapIron, Inc., outlines when it’s important for solar businesses to increase granularity in their solar project’s cash flow model. Key Takeaways: When… Continue reading “Modeling Your Solar Project’s Cash Flows – When to Increase Granularity”
Solar Women Summer Series: Finding Funding in Solar Our fifth Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Sara Rafalson, Senior Associate at Sol Systems, a solar energy finance and investment firm with offices in D.C., San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Ms. Rafalson is also the President of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Finding Funding in Solar”
Solar Women Summer Series: The Solar Business Skillset Our third Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Pamela Cargill, Principal at Chaolysti, a strategic consulting firm that helps residential solar installers operate more effectively. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chaolysti aims to massively scale the deployment of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: The Solar Business Skillset”
3 Tax and ITC Considerations for Your Solar Project On the Solar Executive MBA Training Discussion Board… Key Takeaways: Depreciation benefits tend to be far lower than the value of the solar investment tax credit (ITC) If an asset is deemed an “integral” part of the solar PV system then it can… Continue reading “3 Tax and ITC Considerations for Your Solar Project”
Solar Women Summer Series: Getting Involved with the D.O.E. SunShot Initiative The teams at HeatSpring and RenewableEnergyWorld.com are excited to kick off Solar Women Summer Series, a series of interviews featuring women who have taken HeatSpring’s solar courses and other interesting women doing important work in the solar industry. This week we feature Dr. Lidija Sekaric, Director of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Getting Involved with the D.O.E. SunShot Initiative”
4 Reasons Commissioning on Larger Solar PV Systems is Important The article below is an excerpt from the discussion board of our last Solar Executive MBA cohort. Student A and Student B are interested in learning more about: The importance of commissioning on larger solar systems The potential volatility of SRECs… Continue reading “4 Reasons Commissioning on Larger Solar PV Systems is Important”
Interview: Financial Models and Sample Documents for Commercial Solar Projects I recently spoke with Chris Lord and Keith Cronin about some of the financial modeling tools and sample documents that they frequently use to teach solar professionals working on commercial projects. Chris and Keith, who co-teach our Solar Executive MBA… Continue reading “Interview: Financial Models and Sample Documents 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”
[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”
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”