Economic Modeling Basics for A Solar Project Happening on the Solar Executive MBA Discussion Board… ___________________________________ Construction Debt/Loans, SRECs & Purchasing vs. Leasing a Site Student 1: 1. What is the difference between project debt and the construction loan? 2. What is SREC and Single SREC? 3. If the… Continue reading “Economic Modeling Basics for A Solar Project”
FREE REPORT: Gain Access to the ~290,258 LIDAR Identified Solar-Ready Roofs in Massachusetts This article was originally published on Faze1’s blog and re-printed with permission. The above picture is a heat map of the best and worst towns for residential solar based on proprietary LIDAR analysis created by Faze1. Download the full report to get a… Continue reading “FREE REPORT: Gain Access to the ~290,258 LIDAR Identified Solar-Ready Roofs in Massachusetts”
Solar Women Summer Series: Law and Business in the Solar Industry This week’s Solar Women Summer Series features Chelsea Turner and Latasha Terry, employees at Solar Frontier Latasha (right): Legal Counsel J.D./M.B.A. with Solar Frontier Chelsea (left): Business Development Manager with Solar Frontier Tell us your stories. How did you get involved in the… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Law and Business in the Solar Industry”
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!”
What’s On the NABCEP Solar PV Technical Sales Exam? If you click in the image it will take you to the NABCEP PV Technical Sales Resource Guide. It’s a 28-page document that is definitely worth an hour for any solar salesperson. That’s how IREC and NABCEP define your role… Continue reading “What’s On the NABCEP Solar PV Technical Sales Exam?”
Earning Solar Continuing Education Credits with HeatSpring In addition to gaining applicable experience, completing projects, and learning from expert instructors, taking a HeatSpring course can also provide you with the opportunity to earn Continuing Education Credits. Many of our courses are approved by professional solar organizations for continuing… Continue reading “Earning Solar Continuing Education Credits with HeatSpring”
RETScreen as a Handy Toolbox The following article was written by Michael Ross, Expert Instructor of HeatSpring’s Mastering RETScreen 4 for Clean Energy Project Analysis course– approved for 16 AIA CEUs! RETScreen is the name given to two widely used software tools available for free download from the Government… Continue reading “RETScreen as a Handy Toolbox”
Why SunEdison’s Stock Dropped 50% in 3 Weeks and How You Can Avoid This in Your Own Solar Development SunEdison has climbed up the ladder to become the world’s largest renewable energy service provider, but it has come at a cost. Many people believe that they’re on a trajectory similar to the traditional energy service providers, like Duke Energy,… Continue reading “Why SunEdison’s Stock Dropped 50% in 3 Weeks and How You Can Avoid This in Your Own Solar Development”
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”
Solar Women Summer Series (Canada): Policy, Philanthropy and Play Lisa Oelke is the Marketing Manager (North America) for Advanced Racking Solutions, a division of hb Solar Canada, in Ontario. She is also the Solar Development/Renewable Energy Consultant Off-Grid Specialist for the Solar Majengo Tanzania project and an Advisory Board member… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series (Canada): Policy, Philanthropy and Play”
Modeling Your Solar Project’s Cash Flows – When to Increase Granularity In this article, Chris Lord, expert instructor at HeatSpring, lawyer with deep banking experience, and the Managing Director of CapIron, Inc., outlines when it’s important for solar businesses to increase granularity in their solar project’s cash flow model. Key Takeaways: When… Continue reading “Modeling Your Solar Project’s Cash Flows – When to Increase Granularity”
Solar Women Summer Series: Finding Funding in Solar Our fifth Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Sara Rafalson, Senior Associate at Sol Systems, a solar energy finance and investment firm with offices in D.C., San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Ms. Rafalson is also the President of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Finding Funding in Solar”
Solar Women Summer Series: The Solar Business Skillset Our third Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Pamela Cargill, Principal at Chaolysti, a strategic consulting firm that helps residential solar installers operate more effectively. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chaolysti aims to massively scale the deployment of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: The Solar Business Skillset”
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: Find A Mentor! It’s week two of our Solar Women Summer Series! Last week we featured Lidija Sekaric, Director of the Technology to Market Program at the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. This week, we’re excited to feature Tamika Jacques, Director of Workforce Development Programs at… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Find A Mentor!”
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”
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”