Solar Optimization in 2020 Where are you and solar heading next year? After five days of networking and education in Salt Lake City at the solar conference, a recurring theme emerged. This was across all segments of the solar industry and touched others as… Continue reading “Solar Optimization in 2020”
Three Solar Industry Trends for Beginners–and Some Important Perspective on Them If you’re new to the solar industry, you should keep an eye on three trends, says Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 58-hour NABCEP Advanced Solar PV Training Series. With prices of solar and energy storage dropping, it’s easy to get… Continue reading “Three Solar Industry Trends for Beginners–and Some Important Perspective on Them”
Avoid These Three Silly Mistakes about Solar–and Escape Embarrassment When you’re discussing the details of a solar energy system, it’s easy to slip up in embarrassing ways. Even solar company CEOs commit common mistakes, says Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 58-hour NABCEP Advanced Solar PV Training Series. His courses… Continue reading “Avoid These Three Silly Mistakes about Solar–and Escape Embarrassment”
Helping Non-Profits Understand the Urgency of the Solar Tax Credit Phase-Out It’s vital that non-profits understand the urgency of the phase-out of the federal solar tax credits, says Keith Cronin, co-instructor for HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course. Because non-profits tend to be cautious, don’t focus on tax credits, and move… Continue reading “Helping Non-Profits Understand the Urgency of the Solar Tax Credit Phase-Out”
How Can NGOs Access Valuable Federal Solar Tax Credits? Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are nonprofit entities that operate independently of any government, aren’t able to directly utilize federal tax credits available for solar, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Finance Masters Series and other courses. Here’s the problem: By… Continue reading “How Can NGOs Access Valuable Federal Solar Tax Credits?”
Encouraging Non-Profits to Bring Solar PV to their Communities Requires Education, Patience Solar developers and contractors are in the unique position of being able to educate non-profit organizations about solar energy and bring its benefits to their communities, says Keith Cronin, an instructor for numerous HeatSpring courses and founder of SunHedge. “The… Continue reading “Encouraging Non-Profits to Bring Solar PV to their Communities Requires Education, Patience”
Join us at the Oregon Solar Energy Conference The Oregon Solar Energy Conference is the most robust regional solar energy conference in the nation, and returns to Portland, Oregon this year May 7-9. They will continue with their dedicated contractor day on May 7th, in coordination with the… Continue reading “Join us at the Oregon Solar Energy Conference”
How the Wrong Roof or Warranty Can Undermine a Solar PV Project In a distributed generation project involving solar PV, identifying the status of the roof and the details of its warranty is critical, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course. If solar installers don’t do their homework,… Continue reading “How the Wrong Roof or Warranty Can Undermine a Solar PV Project”
Managing the Moving Targets of Getting a Solar Power Purchase Agreement Signed Getting a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed for a solar project requires juggling numerous tasks–all of them moving targets, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course. It’s not easy to maneuver through this process and rope… Continue reading “Managing the Moving Targets of Getting a Solar Power Purchase Agreement Signed”
Do Your Financial Modeling for Solar, and Keep Your Eye on What Qualifies for the ITC When you’re creating financial models for solar projects, it’s important to understand what qualifies for the solar investment tax credit (ITC), says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Financial Modeling for Solar PV course. And it’s also critical to begin your modeling… Continue reading “Do Your Financial Modeling for Solar, and Keep Your Eye on What Qualifies for the ITC”
Why 4 Out of 5 Solar Companies Don’t Advertise Often in the solar industry, the debate about advertising or not strikes a nerve. Many clients and people I know resist any sort of advertising as they believe it’s a waste of money and their time. They have good reason… Continue reading “Why 4 Out of 5 Solar Companies Don’t Advertise”
3 Lessons I Learned From Collaboration It was early 2002 and the idea of a solar PPA was in its infancy. I got an email from a guy from BP Solar seeing if I was interested in buying some solar panels. His name was Jigar Shah.… Continue reading “3 Lessons I Learned From Collaboration”
How to sell a utility scale solar project There is constant interest from developers looking to sell their solar projects. How can you get a piece of this lucrative opportunity and help wean us all off of dirty fossil fuels? Solar development breaks down into three essential steps:… Continue reading “How to sell a utility scale solar project”
How Mineral Rights Can Kill Your Solar Farm Deal There is probably nothing more frustrating than spending months talking to land owners and learning late in the program that the deal is dead. How much did you invest in time and money knocking on doors and drumming up engineering… Continue reading “How Mineral Rights Can Kill Your Solar Farm Deal”
How Google Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Lead in Solar Paid Search Campaigns In the last article, we did an in-depth analysis of 6 specific search ads for residential solar and we showed how the search engine ad itself can impact the eventual cost per lead, based on the click-through rate of the ad.… Continue reading “How Google Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Lead in Solar Paid Search Campaigns”
In-Depth Analysis of 6 Residential Solar Search Engine Marketing Ads In this article, the Energy Circle Paid Search team analyzed 6 different solar search engine marketing campaigns and will share our analysis on which ads will likely perform well and those that will likely perform poorly and why. After reading… Continue reading “In-Depth Analysis of 6 Residential Solar Search Engine Marketing Ads”
Get Solar Smart and Boost Your Income in the Solar Industry Many solar professionals worry right now that the Trump administration may impose tariffs on solar panels from China, a move that would increase the costs of doing business in the US and spark layoffs in the industry. However, if… Continue reading “Get Solar Smart and Boost Your Income in the Solar Industry”
NABCEP PV Associate Credential Goes International Are you located outside of the United States and interested in earning the NABCEP PV Associate credential? We have great news! You can now take the PV Associate exam at any Castle Worldwide testing center in the world. You could… Continue reading “NABCEP PV Associate Credential Goes International”
“Bring me tariffs!” U.S. Solar Industry Braces After ITC Ruling Friday the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued its decision finding “a substantial cause of serious injury to the domestic industry” due to dumping of low cost Chinese solar panels in the U.S. market. By the “domestic industry” the ITC… Continue reading ““Bring me tariffs!” U.S. Solar Industry Braces After ITC Ruling”
New Course Format – Solar Business Masterclass We are excited to introduce a new course format, developed by veteran HeatSpring instructor Keith Cronin. We are now accepting enrollments in Keith’s Solar Business Masterclass. In 2011 Keith helped us develop what would become our most popular course, the… Continue reading “New Course Format – Solar Business Masterclass”