A New On-Ramp Solar Entrepreneurs Kerim Baran and I teach HeatSpring’s Solar Entrepreneurship course. About fifty students have enrolled since we launched in April, and periodically we do live ‘office hours’ with guests. This is a conversation we had with Luis Troccoli and Tim Hettermann… Continue reading “A New On-Ramp Solar Entrepreneurs”
How Drones Can Speed the Growth of Solar Energy With a drone and software, solar industry members can reduce the time, costs and errors associated with designing solar systems. And, as the industry learns more about the benefits of drones, the technology will help move solar energy forward, says… Continue reading “How Drones Can Speed the Growth of Solar Energy”
Learn Financial Modeling to Win Your Next Renewable Energy Job Learning how to build a financial model to develop large renewable energy projects is hard. Details matter. Getting one number wrong can cost millions of dollars. That’s why learning how to develop a financial model is such a valuable skill.… Continue reading “Learn Financial Modeling to Win Your Next Renewable Energy Job”
For Potential Solar Entrepreneurs, These Opportunities Await The U.S. has 1 million untapped solar entrepreneurs, says Kerim Baran, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Entrepreneurship course. Right now, the U.S. has about 10,000 active solar installers and 1 million electricians. Many of these electricians aren’t aware that they can… Continue reading “For Potential Solar Entrepreneurs, These Opportunities Await”
How Can Fast-Moving Solar Companies Adjust to Growth? It’s no secret the solar industry is growing quickly. In fact, 2020 set records for the industry. The fourth quarter exceeded the quarterly records set in fourth quarter 2016 by 22%, and the year ended with 19.2 GW installed, 43%… Continue reading “How Can Fast-Moving Solar Companies Adjust to Growth?”
The Duck Curve: One Picture Explains the Rise of Solar + Storage Kerim Baran teaches our new “Solar Entrepreneurship” course. Last week we had our first live, interactive lecture. It was lightly attended, fun, and I learned something really interesting: The Duck Curve. Here’s how Kerim explains The Duck Curve: Net metering… Continue reading “The Duck Curve: One Picture Explains the Rise of Solar + Storage”
Industry Growth Creates Opportunities for Solar Entrepreneurs Ever think about starting a solar business? The solar industry is growing and creating a lot of jobs. Some of those jobs will be at new firms – startups – founded by people like you. Smart people who see a… Continue reading “Industry Growth Creates Opportunities for Solar Entrepreneurs”
Production and Productivity on a Solar Construction Site “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is an old quote that speaks a great deal of truth – especially when applied to the large scale solar construction site. One of the core features of a solar power plant is… Continue reading “Production and Productivity on a Solar Construction Site”
Understanding Solar Project Finance Risks In an ideal world, solar developers would find an appropriate site for solar, the local utility would offer low interconnection costs, the investor would receive a reasonable financial return and the surrounding community would welcome the project. This would make… Continue reading “Understanding Solar Project Finance Risks”
Marc Shackelford-Rowell Awarded Genius Grant for Speeding Up Solar Permits in Philadelphia Please join us in congratulating Marc Shackelford-Rowell, the third Genius Grant award recipient for 2021. Marc identified a problem when he joined the solar industry – the residential permitting process takes too long. So what did Marc do? He helped… Continue reading “Marc Shackelford-Rowell Awarded Genius Grant for Speeding Up Solar Permits in Philadelphia”
What Happened in Texas? February 2021 Power Outages At its highest level, electric power elevates us in so many ways. It helps us build our awareness of local and global events, understand the experiences and perspectives of others, and collaborate with others to enact change. It is a… Continue reading “What Happened in Texas? February 2021 Power Outages”
How to Get into the Renewable Energy Industry Jack Bishop of Portland, Oregon recently graduated from Tulane University with hopes of entering the renewable energy industry and doing his part to address environmental challenges. While he had taken numerous courses related to the industry, he didn’t know where… Continue reading “How to Get into the Renewable Energy Industry”
Achieving High Quality Workmanship on a Utility-Scale Solar Construction Site Earlier in my career before I switched into Project Management, I was given an opportunity to lead the Quality department for a leading US based EPC. I’d never seen myself as a QC guy – my background is in Mechanical… Continue reading “Achieving High Quality Workmanship on a Utility-Scale Solar Construction Site”
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”
How to Boost Your Income in the Solar Industry During the COVID-19 Crisis “Get educated and work from home during COVID,” says Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 30-Hour NABCEP Advanced PV Certification Training and CEUs. With HeatSpring’s courses, solar installers can get off the roof and start working from home, says White, the… Continue reading “How to Boost Your Income in the Solar Industry During the COVID-19 Crisis”
NABCEP Certification = Higher Salary (70% of the Time) The NABCEP PV Installation Professional Certification is the gold standard for solar installers. Passing the test is notoriously hard. NABCEP doesn’t publish statistics but the general consensus is that it’s only around a 50% passing rate. Last month we sent… Continue reading “NABCEP Certification = Higher Salary (70% of the Time)”
Learning How to Safely Fly Drones In February 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a list of proposed regulations that paved the way for small drones (or “unmanned aircraft systems”) to enter mainstream civil aviation. The regulations came after many close calls or accidents involving… Continue reading “Learning How to Safely Fly Drones”
Protecting Firefighters and Solar Homes with Rapid Shutdown During Wildfire Season When Sean White meets firefighters, he often asks what they do if they encounter solar homes during wildfires. Do they rush to protect the homes? In the past, the answer was no, says White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 40-Hour NABCEP Advanced… Continue reading “Protecting Firefighters and Solar Homes with Rapid Shutdown During Wildfire Season”
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”