The OPEN PV Project: See Real Time Solar PV Installations from 2000 to 2012 and More Cool Info I just stumbled upon The Open PV Project that was compiled by NREL. It provides some cool vanity metrics, like a PV map of solar PV installations from 2000 to 2012, and so some very useful state by state market… Continue reading “The OPEN PV Project: See Real Time Solar PV Installations from 2000 to 2012 and More Cool Info”
Geothermal and Solar Installers: Get to Know Your Municipal Utility (It’s not a Waste of Time) “Municipal utilities are more open to trying new things than investor-owned utilities.” This is the lesson I took away from my visit to the Wyandotte Municipal Services as part of a delegation from the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. They’ve… Continue reading “Geothermal and Solar Installers: Get to Know Your Municipal Utility (It’s not a Waste of Time)”
New 10 Year $.12kWh TVA Solar PV Feed in Tariff –> Requires NABCEP Solar PV Entry Level Certification In September 2012, the TVA introduced a new solar PV feed-in-tariff. The TVA will for solar PV production at retail electric rates + a FIT rate for 10 years, and then just retail rates for the following 10 years. A few… Continue reading “New 10 Year $.12kWh TVA Solar PV Feed in Tariff –> Requires NABCEP Solar PV Entry Level Certification”
[Photo Guide] Installing Solar PV Racking on Flat Roofs in NYC For residential applications everyone knows that a 10 pitch metal seam room is as easy as you get can for residential solar, followed by high quality asphalt shingles. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places in the country, specifically in cities, where… Continue reading “[Photo Guide] Installing Solar PV Racking on Flat Roofs in NYC”
Solidifying Clean Energy As a Political Force in New England September 2012 Post Event Update I had a great time at Munro’s conference and learned a lot. Thanks again to Munro for hosting. My workshop went well, it’s a little difficult to get people to open up but after a… Continue reading “Solidifying Clean Energy As a Political Force in New England”
Are Solar Renewable Energy Credits Taxable? There has been much recent discussion on solar and energy blogs and in other discussion forums relating to the tax treatment of Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (“SREC”) income. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of… Continue reading “Are Solar Renewable Energy Credits Taxable?”
Guide to Bridge Financing For Solar EPC Contractors Over the past month, I’ve seen a pick up in the amount of companies that are offering ‘bridge financing’ to small and middle size solar PV contractors. So, I thought I would put together a short post and a free… Continue reading “Guide to Bridge Financing For Solar EPC Contractors”
Part 3: How to Design Grid-Connected Solar PV Inverters, Strings, and Conductors This is a the third installment in a three-part series on residential solar PV design. The goal is to provide a solid foundation for new system designers and installers. This section is dedicated to the basics of inverter sizing, string… Continue reading “Part 3: How to Design Grid-Connected Solar PV Inverters, Strings, and Conductors”
Betting on the Decline of Residential Solar PV Financing Here is a crazy thought: we will know that solar pv has become mainstream when 3rd party financiers are no longer needed. I’m very bullish on the ability of 3rd financiers to be able to compete with the general trend of the… Continue reading “Betting on the Decline of Residential Solar PV Financing”
“What’s the Most Efficient?” Geo VS Solar Thermal VS Solar PV I’m doing some sales consulting work in NYC, and there’s one question I’m getting a lot from property owners: “What is the most efficient renewable energy technology?” In the city, they are mainly speaking of solar PV vs solar thermal,… Continue reading ““What’s the Most Efficient?” Geo VS Solar Thermal VS Solar PV”
[Interview] 5 Key Lessons Learned about a Homeowner’s Solar Buying Process I’ve been doing a lot of interviews with companies that are selling renewable energy services, but what I’m really interested in learning about is how property owners are making their purchasing decisions. If we can better understand the customer, it will… Continue reading “[Interview] 5 Key Lessons Learned about a Homeowner’s Solar Buying Process”
Jigar Shah’s Call to Arms For Small Solar Companies Everywhere This week I flew to Chicago for the Illinois Solar Energy Association fund raiser. Jigar Shah delivered the keynote to 70 registrants, packed into Emmett’s Place in Palatine. I left at 9:30pm with an excited sense that Solar PV in… Continue reading “Jigar Shah’s Call to Arms For Small Solar Companies Everywhere”
Large Installers and Financiers DOMINATE the MASS Residential Solar Market, with 76% and 74% Market Share Respectively, and Other Interesting Data The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has made data on the number of project funded through the Commonwealth solar grant available public. Find the on MA CEC’s website or download it here in excel format. The data is very detailed and… Continue reading “Large Installers and Financiers DOMINATE the MASS Residential Solar Market, with 76% and 74% Market Share Respectively, and Other Interesting Data”
Finance 101 for Solar PV Professionals In order to sell solar PV projects, especially commercial projects, you need to understand finance. Understanding finance will allow you to calculate and communicate the financial benefit of a system to your client. Download the Commercial Solar Finance Model Read… Continue reading “Finance 101 for Solar PV Professionals”
Part 2: How to Design PV – A Walkthrough of How to Size a Solar Array and Estimate Power Production This is the 2nd article in a series about how to design solar PV projects. We started with solar 101, the basics. If you’re brand new or need to brush up on the basics, please read it first. It discusses… Continue reading “Part 2: How to Design PV – A Walkthrough of How to Size a Solar Array and Estimate Power Production”
How to Design a Solar PV System 101: The Basic Terms Want a basic technical understanding of solar PV project terminology? Read on… If you’re an experienced installer, none of this information will be new to you. If you’re new to solar, it will be helpful. But keep in mind, we’ll… Continue reading “How to Design a Solar PV System 101: The Basic Terms”
What is the Difference Between a Solar Lease and Cash Customer? This is the last interview in the 5 part series we did with BrightGrid Renewable Energy Finance on residential solar leases and it’s one of the best. We focused most of the interview on specifics of what solar sales and… Continue reading “What is the Difference Between a Solar Lease and Cash Customer?”
Detailed 2012 SREC Market Update: NJ, MA, PA, CT, IL, DC, MD 7 Months ago we did an SREC 101 Episode for HeatSpring TV. The goal of the first interview was simple: to provide basic information on what SRECs are, the state of the current market, and what installers should know about… Continue reading “Detailed 2012 SREC Market Update: NJ, MA, PA, CT, IL, DC, MD”
Can We Eliminate Residential Solar Financing? A Conversation About Driving Down PV Costs with Barry Cinnamon from Westinghouse Solar This is a great thought experiment. Can we make solar PV so simple and cheap that we’ll no longer need residential solar financing? Jigar Shah thinks so. Shouldn’t the goal of the PV industry be to NOT need financing? Or,… Continue reading “Can We Eliminate Residential Solar Financing? A Conversation About Driving Down PV Costs with Barry Cinnamon from Westinghouse Solar”
Finance 101 for Renewable Energy Professionals Understanding finance is required to sell renewable energy projects. It’s needed to communicate the value of both residential and commercial projects, and for all types of technologies: solar PV, solar hot water, and geothermal heat pumps. The reason financial metrics are… Continue reading “Finance 101 for Renewable Energy Professionals”