HeatSpring Solar Alumnae: From Courses to Consultants & CEOs! This Solar Women Summer Series interview features two HeatSpring Solar course alumnae, Karma Edwards and Shelley Cohen. Karma Edwards (left), MBA, LEED AP is an independent consultant for Energy Engineering and Business Development. Karma completed our Solar PV Installer Boot Camp… Continue reading “HeatSpring Solar Alumnae: From Courses to Consultants & CEOs!”
Solar Women Summer Series: Reaching a Majority Female Office Sarah Gaddis and Jodi White work at BayWa r.e. Solar Systems, a Solar PV organization dedicated to supporting local, independent installers by offering only a select group of top-quality products. Sarah and Jodi spoke with us about their roles at BayWa r.e., their… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Reaching a Majority Female Office”
The Advantages of Adding Storage to Your Commercial Solar PV Design In the article below, Christopher LaForge, IREC-Certified Master Trainer, NABCEP-Certified PV Installation Professional, and CEO of Great Northern Solar, provides detail about the advantages of adding storage to your commercial solar PV design. Learning Takeaways: By storing solar generation during the… Continue reading “The Advantages of Adding Storage to Your Commercial Solar PV Design”
The Solar Developer’s Modeling Challenge: How Much Detail Is Enough? In the article below, Chris Lord, HeatSpring’s expert instructor, outlines when and why detail in modeling cash flows from a renewable energy project really matters. Key Takeaways: Modeling forces us to confront the troubling “unknowns” about our project, and that… Continue reading “The Solar Developer’s Modeling Challenge: How Much Detail Is Enough?”
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”
SolarWorld Installer Summit in Portland, OR The 2015 Installer Summit (Aug. 25-27) is an annual sales, marketing, and technical training event at SolarWorld’s U.S. manufacturing headquarters, in Portland, OR. This year SolarWorld will be celebrating their 40th Anniversary of US manufacturing so if you attend, you… Continue reading “SolarWorld Installer Summit in Portland, OR”
NABCEP Certification Updates and Details In this article, Dr. Sean White, IREC Energy Council 2014 Trainer of the Year and ISPQ Certified Solar PV Master Trainer at HeatSpring, outlines important details about NABCEP certification, including recent updates and additions to the Entry Level Program. Important… Continue reading “NABCEP Certification Updates and Details”
Solar Women Summer Series: Commercial Project Design and Engineering Shannon Ware is a Commercial Project Design Engineer and NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional at Microgrid Energy, LLC. She is also Certified in Shade Analysis, is a DOE Home Energy Score Qualified Assessor and has completed Energy Technician Training in addition to… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Commercial Project Design and Engineering”
Solar + Storage: Commercial v. Utility v. Residential The best solar + storage opportunities for most companies are on large commercial projects. That was my takeaway from a June 2nd call with Wes Kennedy, Joe Schwartz and David Brearley from SolarPro. The utility storage market is hot and happening… Continue reading “Solar + Storage: Commercial v. Utility v. Residential”
The Solar Homeowner: Insuring Your Panel(s) Many homeowners today are making the (energy/cost-efficient and environmentally friendly) switch to solar. In addition to installation and electrical concerns, there is also the critical matter of insuring your solar panel(s) to attend to. We spoke with Craig Thompson, president of… Continue reading “The Solar Homeowner: Insuring Your Panel(s)”
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”
3 Reasons Your PV System Load Profile is Overinflated and How to Fix It The article below is a discussion from our course, Batteries in Solar PV Systems, led by Christopher LaForge. Christopher LaForge is the CEO of Great Northern Solar and a NABCEP certified photovoltaic installer. He has been designing, specifying, and installing systems… Continue reading “3 Reasons Your PV System Load Profile is Overinflated and How to Fix It”
Interview: Battery Expert Christopher LaForge on the Tesla Powerwall The debut of the Tesla Powerwall has made quite a splash in many circles. Claiming to outperform current battery systems for solar, it has the potential to make a large impact on the storage side of the production of solar… Continue reading “Interview: Battery Expert Christopher LaForge on the Tesla Powerwall”
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”
The Top Challenges with Technical Qualification for Commercial Solar Projects This article will provide a snapshot of the current technical challenges that engineers and project managers face with the technical qualification of solar projects. Project qualification is a critical part of the commercial solar sales process. It’s where sales, technical… Continue reading “The Top Challenges with Technical Qualification for Commercial Solar Projects”
Christopher LaForge: Battery Capacity – The Basis of Storage The article below was written by Christopher LaForge, NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional and IREC Certified Master Trainer. Christopher LaForge teaches Batteries in Solar PV Systems, a 6-week course that provides in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding the use of batteries for… Continue reading “Christopher LaForge: Battery Capacity – The Basis of Storage”
Apply for HeatSpring’s Online Solar Startup Alley* Competition – Deadline: December 12th *Startups include small businesses and new ventures with revenues of less than $1 million. I’m really excited to announce our online solar startup competition. We created the competition because we noticed within our 6-week Solar Startup Accelerator that the single largest… Continue reading “Apply for HeatSpring’s Online Solar Startup Alley* Competition – Deadline: December 12th”
Get All the Tools and Advice You Need to Start a Solar Business We’re launching the first online solar startup accelerator in the winter of 2015 so you can get all of the tools and advice you need to start your solar business. Here’s why: The solar industry grew 36% in 2014, creating tons… Continue reading “Get All the Tools and Advice You Need to Start a Solar Business”