Ladder Safety with Sean White Falls are one of the most common hazards on a job site, and ladders are often part of that risk, especially on residential solar installs where you’re going up onto a pitched roof. A few specific practices can go a… Continue reading “Ladder Safety with Sean White”
HeatSpring is the Official PVA & OMAT Training Provider for the 2027 NABCEP Conference We just signed on to be the official PVA & OMAT training provider for the 2027 NABCEP Conference. Sean White is teaching the class. Learners spend three days together at the conference training with Sean. They also get access to… Continue reading “HeatSpring is the Official PVA & OMAT Training Provider for the 2027 NABCEP Conference”
How to Properly Fit a Fall Protection Harness In the hierarchy of fall protection, PPE, sits near the bottom, not the top. Elimination – removing the fall hazard entirely – is always the first line of defense, followed by passive systems, travel restraint, and only then fall arrest.… Continue reading “How to Properly Fit a Fall Protection Harness “
New Course: Competent Person Fall Protection Training Falls are the number one cause of death in construction and almost every one of them is preventable. That’s the reason this course exists. HeatSpring’s new Competent Person Fall Protection Training, taught by instructor Jenny Conrardy, is now live, and… Continue reading “New Course: Competent Person Fall Protection Training”
New Free Course: 10 Utility-Scale Solar Defects Hiding in Plain Sight Every defect in utility-scale solar construction is cheap exactly once – at the moment it’s installed. After that, the price goes up. A missed refusal on a pile drive log, a connector that “clicked, sort of,” a bonding clamp that… Continue reading “New Free Course: 10 Utility-Scale Solar Defects Hiding in Plain Sight”
How Standards Harmonization Is Making Energy Storage Easier to Permit and Inspect Article 706 on energy storage systems didn’t undergo sweeping changes in the 2026 NEC, but what did shift is worth noting, especially for anyone who has found the permitting and inspection side of ESS work frustrating. Rebekah Hren of Solar… Continue reading “How Standards Harmonization Is Making Energy Storage Easier to Permit and Inspect”
Power Control Systems Just Made Load Calculations a Lot Less Painful Doing load calculations can be a bit of a slog. Adding up the water heater, the dishwasher, the EV charger, and all the other loads, then working through the math for branch circuits, feeders, and services – it’s typically not… Continue reading “Power Control Systems Just Made Load Calculations a Lot Less Painful”
What Is a Power Control System (PCS) and Why Does It Matter for Solar and Storage Installers? Power control systems are showing up more and more in solar, storage, and electrical infrastructure, but some practitioners haven’t encountered the term yet. Brian Mehalic breaks down what a PCS actually is and why it’s worth understanding now. Essentially, a… Continue reading “What Is a Power Control System (PCS) and Why Does It Matter for Solar and Storage Installers?”
The 2029 NEC Is Going to Look Very Different. Here’s What’s Coming. The 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) revision cycle has come and gone, but the work of the code-making panels never really stops. The 2029 cycle is already well underway, public inputs have been submitted, and task groups are working through… Continue reading “The 2029 NEC Is Going to Look Very Different. Here’s What’s Coming.”
Common SCADA Problems O&M Teams Inherit and How to Fix Them When an O&M team takes over a utility-scale solar project, they’re inheriting whatever SCADA system the construction team left behind – for better or worse. Unfortunately, there can be loose connections, misconfigured device IDs, missing documentation, and more. These are… Continue reading “Common SCADA Problems O&M Teams Inherit and How to Fix Them”
New Course: Compliant Solar Array Wiring Bootcamp Wire management is the most common deficiency Janet Hughes has seen across thousands of solar installations. She’s just launched her new “Complaint Solar Array Wiring Bootcamp” course to fix that. Janet Hughes has been in the solar industry since 1988,… Continue reading “New Course: Compliant Solar Array Wiring Bootcamp”
Three 2026 NEC Changes That Might Surprise Experienced Solar Installers and Designers Every three years, a new edition of the National Electrical Code drops, and with it comes a set of changes that practitioners need to get up to speed on before they show up in the field. The 2026 version is… Continue reading “Three 2026 NEC Changes That Might Surprise Experienced Solar Installers and Designers”
SCADA Acronyms Explained: What Beginners Need to Know For those brand new to SCADA, one of the first walls you’ll hit is all the acronyms. Networking, communications, and cybersecurity each come with their own vocabulary, and SCADA sits at the intersection of all three. Here are a handful… Continue reading “SCADA Acronyms Explained: What Beginners Need to Know”
What 30 Years in the Electrical Trade Taught Jason Brozen About Keeping Workers Safe In March 2026, HeatSpring’s Brian Hayden sat down with Jason Brozen at the NABCEP Conference in Milwaukee for a conversation on the Suncast Media stage. Jason is the Safety and Technical Training Manager at Tyndale, a master electrician with 30… Continue reading “What 30 Years in the Electrical Trade Taught Jason Brozen About Keeping Workers Safe “
New Course: 15-Hour PV and the 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) from Sean White & Bill Brooks If you’ve taken a Sean White course before, you already know the drill: dense technical material, delivered with plenty of humor so you actually remember it. Sean has built a following of repeat learners who come back every code cycle… Continue reading “New Course: 15-Hour PV and the 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) from Sean White & Bill Brooks”
New Course: Comprehensive 2026 NEC Requirements for Electrotech: PV, ESS, EVs, PCS, and More The team behind the new “Comprehensive 2026 NEC Requirements for Electrotech: PV, ESS, EVs, PCS, and More” course has spent years helping shape the National Electrical Code, not just applying it (although they do that plenty too). Solar Tech Collective’s… Continue reading “New Course: Comprehensive 2026 NEC Requirements for Electrotech: PV, ESS, EVs, PCS, and More”
What’s New with NABCEP Credentials in 2026? Sean White Breaks It Down NABCEP credentials have always been the benchmark for solar and storage professionals, but 2026 is shaping up to be an interesting year for their credential landscape. The PV Associate exam has gotten a Job Task Analysis (JTA) update, the newer… Continue reading “What’s New with NABCEP Credentials in 2026? Sean White Breaks It Down”
New Courses: Introduction to Hand Tools and Power Tools for Solar HeatSpring is excited to announce two new courses from Jenny Conrardy: Introduction to Hand Tools for Solar and Introduction to Power Tools for Solar. Who These Courses Are For These courses are built for new solar employees, apprentices, and career… Continue reading “New Courses: Introduction to Hand Tools and Power Tools for Solar”
What Does SCADA Connect on a Utility-Scale Solar Project? On a utility-scale solar project, SCADA connects three distinct parts of the system: the PV equipment, the substation, and the utility. Each layer often speaks a different protocol, and understanding how they fit together is foundational to working with these… Continue reading “What Does SCADA Connect on a Utility-Scale Solar Project? “
The Complete Utility-Scale Solar Curriculum: Introducing the Utility-Scale Solar Executive Bundle If you’ve been following Andy Nyce’s courses on HeatSpring, you know the catalog has grown substantially. Andy has spent over a decade working across every phase of utility-scale solar execution, and over the past few years he’s turned that experience… Continue reading “The Complete Utility-Scale Solar Curriculum: Introducing the Utility-Scale Solar Executive Bundle”