Building and Managing Decentralized Solar Project Teams Chris Lord has helped fund and develop hundreds of megawatts of solar projects over the past eight years, but his company is small. I asked Chris to explain how he builds and manages a decentralized group of collaborators to have… Continue reading “Building and Managing Decentralized Solar Project Teams”
Managing a Commercial Solar Portfolio: How Solar Developers, EPC Contractors and O&M Teams Work Together Chris Lord helps his clients manage a portfolio of solar assets. In that role he’s also managing a network of subcontractors who don’t always have aligned interests. This is the sort of thing Chris and Keith Cronin cover in their… Continue reading “Managing a Commercial Solar Portfolio: How Solar Developers, EPC Contractors and O&M Teams Work Together”
Construction & Project Managers: Demand is High, Supply is Low Chris Lord helps put together and finance large solar projects. From that vantage point he’s able to see where bottlenecks are in the industry. Recently Chris was telling me how hard it is to find experienced construction and project managers… Continue reading “Construction & Project Managers: Demand is High, Supply is Low”
1 NABCEP CEU – New Free Course – Qualifying Commercial Solar Leads & Projects Anyone who’s made the leap from residential to commercial solar sales can tell you – it’s a different beast. With multiple decision makers and various motivating factors, the commercial and industrial (C&I) sales process takes longer and is more complex. … Continue reading “1 NABCEP CEU – New Free Course – Qualifying Commercial Solar Leads & Projects”
How Does a Solar Project Dealmaker Spend His Time? “Solar Project Dealmaker” is the best way to describe Chris Lord. He’s a lawyer, financial modeler, and builder of project teams. Hearing about his work helps you understand how big solar projects happen. Below you’ll hear about a few projects… Continue reading “How Does a Solar Project Dealmaker Spend His Time?”
Dialing in the Solar Development Process As the solar industry continues to boom, it’s easy to see that a rising tide lifts all boats. Solar companies virtually everywhere are growing at rapidly increasing rates. It’s not uncommon to hear about long installation timelines and even some… Continue reading “Dialing in the Solar Development Process”
What Does Billionaire Jeff Bezos Have In Common With Solar Development? The richest man in the world has something uniquely common with you. Seems far-fetched, but think about it for a moment. When he started Amazon, it was just a bookstore online. Nothing fancy. Back then, people were somewhat reluctant to… Continue reading “What Does Billionaire Jeff Bezos Have In Common With Solar Development?”
New Live Workshop: Mapping the Dynamic Solar Development Process It’s easy to get enamored with winning jobs, but ensuring that they are profitable and your team doesn’t waste precious human and financial resources in the process is the key to a healthy and balanced solar business. That’s where Mapping… Continue reading “New Live Workshop: Mapping the Dynamic Solar Development Process”
Who Is Making Money in Solar Plus Storage? – Ask an Expert In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. This session, we are joined by Chris LaForge, instructor of the Designing Small Scale PV Systems with Energy… Continue reading “Who Is Making Money in Solar Plus Storage? – Ask an Expert”
New Free Course: California C&I Energy Storage Market – State of the Union Join industry experts from Energy Toolbase as they share months of internal and external research in this free course on the dynamics influencing the California C&I solar and storage market in 2022 and beyond. Some of the topics covered include:… Continue reading “New Free Course: California C&I Energy Storage Market – State of the Union”
New Free Course: Solar Development on Brownfields & Landfills In the past few years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified over 80,000 brownfields and municipal solid waste landfills across the country that could be used for renewable energy facilities. There are many benefits to reusing contaminated land for renewable energy, such… Continue reading “New Free Course: Solar Development on Brownfields & Landfills”
HeatSpring Alumni Spotlight: Flying Drones with Ian Ian Ricci enrolled in the HeatSpring Drone Pilot Boot Camp in 2020. He is the Co-Founder and COO/CTO at SolBid, where he uses his flying skills and commercial drone pilot license to do everything from initial site inspections to showing… Continue reading “HeatSpring Alumni Spotlight: Flying Drones with Ian”
Ask an Expert: What Are Some of the Top Ways to Bring New Clients into Your Solar Business? In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. We are joined by Keith Cronin, instructor of the Solar Business Masterclass, the Solar Executive MBA, and more.… Continue reading “Ask an Expert: What Are Some of the Top Ways to Bring New Clients into Your Solar Business?”
Ask an Expert: What is the Biggest Opportunity for Solar Entrepreneurs? In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. This session, we are joined by Kerim Baran, instructor for the Solar Entrepreneurship course. He answers the question – what is the… Continue reading “Ask an Expert: What is the Biggest Opportunity for Solar Entrepreneurs?”
Gain a Broad Perspective of Solar Development to Advance Your Career Learning the solar development process through HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA can help you accelerate growth in your career. Working within a given role at a company can only provide you with so much perspective. It can be challenging to continue… Continue reading “Gain a Broad Perspective of Solar Development to Advance Your Career”
Ask an Expert: If someone wants to build their own solar company, what teams should they assemble? In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a single question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. We are joined by Brian Hayden, Co-Founder of HeatSpring and Co-Instructor of the Solar Entrepreneurship course. Brian… Continue reading “Ask an Expert: If someone wants to build their own solar company, what teams should they assemble?”
Three Solar Startups You Should Know The reason that Kerim Baran is my co-instructor for the Solar Entrepreneurship class – the reason that I always come to him with solar startup questions – is because he did it. He started a business in the solar industry.… Continue reading “Three Solar Startups You Should Know”
Ask an Expert: What are Some Challenges of Adding More Distributed Energy to the Grid? In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. This session, we are joined by Chris Brown and Chris LaForge, instructors of the Utility Scale Commercial &… Continue reading “Ask an Expert: What are Some Challenges of Adding More Distributed Energy to the Grid?”
Ask an Expert: What are 3 things a solar business could improve upon to see higher revenue? In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. We are joined by Keith Cronin, instructor of the Solar Business Masterclass. Keith answers the question – what… Continue reading “Ask an Expert: What are 3 things a solar business could improve upon to see higher revenue?”
Be Worth the Wait Let me guess – You’re booked out months. The phone rings steadily, and you’re turning people away because you can’t come out until the spring or summer. One of my clients – a residential energy contractor in Oregon – turned… Continue reading “Be Worth the Wait”