Why We Haven’t Crossed the Chasm in Residential Solar & What to Do Just because we’re not shooting fish in a barrel doesn’t mean we’re moving past the late early majority, venturing into the mainstream, or “crossing the chasm” of residential solar. Since December 2015, I’ve been exploring the macro changes happening in… Continue reading “Why We Haven’t Crossed the Chasm in Residential Solar & What to Do”
NABCEP Entry Level Program Becomes Associate Program in August The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) recently notified training providers that its Entry Level Program will be undergoing some changes next month. The program will now be called the Associate Program, and continuing education will be required… Continue reading “NABCEP Entry Level Program Becomes Associate Program in August”
Explaining the Value of Solar to Customers With such a long list of benefits, you’d think solar panels would sell themselves. But many potential customers still need convincing before they can make the jump to green living. As beneficial as solar panels are for reducing a household’s… Continue reading “Explaining the Value of Solar to Customers”
Solar Partnership Flip: Alive and Well in 2016 Chris Lord discusses partnership flips under the IRC As Mark Twain once said, “News of the recent death of the partnership flip for solar transactions is greatly exaggerated.” Okay, he didn’t exactly refer to partnership flips; he was talking about… Continue reading “Solar Partnership Flip: Alive and Well in 2016”
Introduction to Solar PV Markets + The 2016 Solar Startup Guide Want to learn more about PV markets and the business of solar? Enroll in Introduction to Solar PV Markets + The 2016 Solar Startup Guide! You’ll receive the 2016 Solar Startup Guide and expert instruction from Dr. Sean White on the features,… Continue reading “Introduction to Solar PV Markets + The 2016 Solar Startup Guide”
Monetizing the Federal ITC For Your Business If you are taking your business solar, it’s important to understand the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Wunder Capital has designed this guide to help answer your questions about the Federal ITC and walk you through the process of how… Continue reading “Monetizing the Federal ITC For Your Business”
Solar MBA: Contract Financing Language, Site/Land Leases and MOU’s Chris Lord and Keith Cronin tackle student questions on the Solar Executive MBA Discussion board… Power Purchase Agreement Financing Language Student 1: I have a follow up question about Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) financing. You indicated agreements with penalties for failure… Continue reading “Solar MBA: Contract Financing Language, Site/Land Leases and MOU’s”
Why Will Net Metering Dissolve? What Should Residential Solar Pros Do? Hawaii has officially abolished net metering (NEM) and switched to a different metric for compensating consumers for their non-firm energy… so what is the industry to do? If you are in the residential solar field today, changes are coming to your neighborhood… Continue reading “Why Will Net Metering Dissolve? What Should Residential Solar Pros Do?”
HeatSpring Named Co-Host & Partner for Women in Solar Energy Roundtable In the summer of 2015, HeatSpring set out to profile a few of the absolutely amazing women making waves in the solar industry… After discovering a shocking dearth of women students enrolled in our courses, and researching the far larger industry trend boasting… Continue reading “HeatSpring Named Co-Host & Partner for Women in Solar Energy Roundtable”
Post-ITC Planning: Key Questions for Everyone in the Solar Value Chain The solar industry received a holiday gift this year in the form of the extension of the ITC. But we aren’t entirely out of the woods. Numerous threats to NEM and rate cases at dozens of utilities across the nation… Continue reading “Post-ITC Planning: Key Questions for Everyone in the Solar Value Chain”
Incubating Clean: Emily Reichert, Ph.D. of Greentown Labs Emily Reichert, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Greentown Labs, spoke with us about the incubator, changes in the industry, the Massachusetts cleantech community and much more. “Greentown Labs provides prototyping space, shared machine shop tools, office space and an event space. We leverage… Continue reading “Incubating Clean: Emily Reichert, Ph.D. of Greentown Labs”
Solar Sharing Spotlight (or Sunlight?) on Boston’s ‘Yeloha!’ Disruptive technologies like Uber have made car pooling the new norm for transportation, changing the way we travel and the way we think about our vehicles. Crowd sourcing companies like Uber also raise the question: what other existing resources can we ration… Continue reading “Solar Sharing Spotlight (or Sunlight?) on Boston’s ‘Yeloha!’”
Solar Loans for Residential Solar in Massachusetts This article was written by Wendy Rowland who recently completed a SMOC, MassCEC, and a HeatSpring solar course that provides skill-based training for professionals seeking to enter the renewable energy industry. One important aspect of formulating a business strategy is… Continue reading “Solar Loans for Residential Solar in Massachusetts”
Bank Lending in Today’s Solar Climate – What You Need to Know Christopher Lord, Managing Director of CapIron, Inc. and an instructor with HeatSpring, recently interviewed Andre Zaffuto, a lending officer focused on solar and other renewable energy opportunities for Bridge Bank. Lord talked with Zaffuto about bank lending in today’s solar… Continue reading “Bank Lending in Today’s Solar Climate – What You Need to Know”
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”