“If Banks Only Understood Solar, My Commercial Solar Business Would Grow” We’ve had over 800 people download our commercial solar PV finance model. If you haven’t, you can download the Commercial Solar Model here. When our readers, students and alumni download it, we ask them what the is the #1 obstalce… Continue reading ““If Banks Only Understood Solar, My Commercial Solar Business Would Grow””
Solar PV Web Marketing Practices Needed to Beat SolarCity + the Big Guys It’s clear that the bottlenecks to the solar PV industry are become less and less technical (though technical challenges still exist), and more about more about finance, sales and marketings. What does this mean? The companies that are the best… Continue reading “Solar PV Web Marketing Practices Needed to Beat SolarCity + the Big Guys”
The Impact of SREC Value Assumptions on Commercial Solar PV Project IRRs Calculating the the un-levered (no debt), internal rate of return (IRR) of a commercial solar PV project is key to selling the project to the property owner, or gain investors on board for financing. If you’re still using the term… Continue reading “The Impact of SREC Value Assumptions on Commercial Solar PV Project IRRs”
How Small Solar Companies Can “Out-market” Large Solar Installers with Deep Pockets with @SolarFred We need to make sure that small solar companies can compete, be profitable, and grow in the solar industry. This means effectively marketing and selling against large solar installers that have huge budgets. If you’re currently creating a solar sales… Continue reading “How Small Solar Companies Can “Out-market” Large Solar Installers with Deep Pockets with @SolarFred”
Preview of Powerful Commercial Solar Project Finance Model included in Solar Executive MBA Course If you are involved in selling or financing commercial solar projects and need a robust proven tool to value those projects, this model (which is included in our Solar Executive MBA course) will be useful to you and your business… Continue reading “Preview of Powerful Commercial Solar Project Finance Model included in Solar Executive MBA Course”
“How Do I Get the NABCEP Certification?” Step by Step Process for Getting the NABCEP Solar PV Installer Certification A question we get all the time is “How to do I get the NABCEP Solar PV Installer Certification?”. Instead of answering the question a million times, I wanted to create a definitive guide of all the talking points. Even… Continue reading ““How Do I Get the NABCEP Certification?” Step by Step Process for Getting the NABCEP Solar PV Installer Certification”
Top 10 Helpful Tips When Submitting A 1603 Grant Application This is a guest post by Rodman and Rodman. If you have any accounting questions related to renewable energy projects, the guys at Rodman and Rodman are awesome. Rodman & Rodman has prepared numerous 1603 applications and, based on our… Continue reading “Top 10 Helpful Tips When Submitting A 1603 Grant Application”
Massachusetts = Large MW+ Solar Projects and Low SREC Prices In the Near Future I enjoy getting policy and finance updates at conferences from people who spend all day thinking about policy and finance. The 2012 Renewable Energy Vermont conference was no different. I also learned some great lessons about a community solar development… Continue reading “Massachusetts = Large MW+ Solar Projects and Low SREC Prices In the Near Future”
Community Solar Lessons Learned in Vermont – Jeff Forward @ Renewable Energy Vermont 2012 At the beginning of October, Renewable Energy Vermont held their annual conference. There were a number of amazing presentations and some struck me more then others. For the ones I really enjoyed, I decided to follow up with the presenters… Continue reading “Community Solar Lessons Learned in Vermont – Jeff Forward @ Renewable Energy Vermont 2012”
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”