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”
UL Certified PV Systems Installer Practice Exam If you’re an electrician who’s interested in the UL Certified PV Systems Installer program, we now have a full UL certification practice exam available for you. Sean White developed the test and has made it a part of his 40-Hour… Continue reading “UL Certified PV Systems Installer Practice Exam”
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”
New Free Course: Designing Utility-Scale Solar with PVComplete Solar soft costs continue to fall as new software solutions move the industry forward. We’re excited to partner with one of those software providers, PVComplete. In the new, free solar design course, “Designing Utility-Scale Solar with PVComplete“, you can see… Continue reading “New Free Course: Designing Utility-Scale Solar with PVComplete”
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”
NABCEP PVIP Training and Exam Approved for U.S. Army Credentialing Assistance Program HeatSpring has recently been accepted as an approved training provider by the ArmyIgnited Credentialing Assistance Program. Soldiers may apply for funding to complete our 58-Hour NABCEP Advanced PV Certification Training Series as well as for all NABCEP application and exam… Continue reading “NABCEP PVIP Training and Exam Approved for U.S. Army Credentialing Assistance Program”
DroneDeploy + HeatSpring The world’s most popular drone data platform is teaming up with HeatSpring to get more solar installers using drones. The new free course “How Drone Data Helps Solar Companies” is designed to help growing solar companies understand how other solar… Continue reading “DroneDeploy + HeatSpring”
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”
New Standards Aim to Ensure Storage is Safe But Fail to Distinguish Among Battery Chemistries A lithium-ion battery in a container near Phoenix owned by Arizona Public Service (APS) caught fire in April 2019, then other batteries in the container caught fire, releasing explosive gas and sparking an explosion that hurt several first responders. Such… Continue reading “New Standards Aim to Ensure Storage is Safe But Fail to Distinguish Among Battery Chemistries”
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”
Re-Thinking Wire Sizing Rules of Thumb for Solar PV For many years, the solar industry has followed rules of thumb about oversizing wires to reduce energy losses in solar PV systems. The rules of thumb call for the PV industry to oversize wires to ensure no more than a… Continue reading “Re-Thinking Wire Sizing Rules of Thumb for Solar PV”
The Quiet Revolution: Solar-Plus-Storage Gains Ground In some parts of the country, the costs of solar-plus-storage are beating grid prices, which is good news for the solar industry and the environment. For example, in Nevada, regulators in 2019 approved three solar-plus-storage power purchase agreements (PPA) for… Continue reading “The Quiet Revolution: Solar-Plus-Storage Gains Ground”
How to Streamline the Design Process for Large-Scale Solar Projects When designing a large-scale solar project, it’s critical to tackle classic hang-ups as early as possible to avoid slowing a project and encountering cost overruns, says Ryan Mayfield, instructor, along with Randy Batchelor, of HeatSpring’s Megawatt Design course. Designers need… Continue reading “How to Streamline the Design Process for Large-Scale Solar Projects”
New Course: Utility Scale Solar Construction & Project Management Are you just getting started in the large scale solar construction industry, or have you been in it for a while but unable to take the next step in your career and move up as quickly as you’d like? If… Continue reading “New Course: Utility Scale Solar Construction & Project Management”
Zero Net Energy Buildings with Marc Rosenbaum is Back! I am so excited to announce that renowned Zero Net Energy (ZNE) expert Marc Rosenbaum is back with a newly updated version of his best selling Zero Net Energy Buildings course. It has been a long hiatus since our last… Continue reading “Zero Net Energy Buildings with Marc Rosenbaum is Back!”
Solar + Drones: What To Do When You Crash Your Drone This is a guest post from Keith Perry, founder of Hudson Valley Drones. Keith is an instructor in the free course, “Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees“. In his previous post, Keith offered up a Solar… Continue reading “Solar + Drones: What To Do When You Crash Your Drone”
Solar Company Guide to Drone Hardware This is a guest post from Keith Perry, founder of Hudson Valley Drones. Keith is an instructor in the free course, “Solar + Drones: Site Surveying and 3D Mapping Around Trees“. Before we go into this in more detail, it’s… Continue reading “Solar Company Guide to Drone Hardware”
Deciduous vs. Evergreen: Solutions for Flying Drones in Every Season This is the third guest post from David Williams, founder of Northwest Drone Pros, in a series on best practices for flying drones around trees. The last post covered “in-flight tips“. David is an instructor in the free course, “Solar… Continue reading “Deciduous vs. Evergreen: Solutions for Flying Drones in Every Season”