What Solar Manufacturing Can Teach the Job Site About Quality Most people who move into quality management learn it on the construction side, catching problems after they’re already built. HeatSpring instructor Julie Stiglish learned it from the other direction first. Before she was walking utility-scale sites as a quality leader,… Continue reading “What Solar Manufacturing Can Teach the Job Site About Quality”
Safety Pro – A New Badge for Jobsite Safety Fundamentals We just added a new badge to the Pro library: Safety Pro. It’s a bundle of four courses that each address a distinct and common jobsite hazard — material handling, falls, electrical work, and heavy equipment operation. It’s a broadly… Continue reading “Safety Pro – A New Badge for Jobsite Safety Fundamentals”
Going From Electrician to Quality Leader: Julie Stiglish’s Path Into QA/QC Julie Stiglish’s path into quality and safety leadership didn’t start in a classroom or a compliance office. It started in the heat of a Las Vegas summer, wiring up casinos as a journeyman electrician, learning what it actually feels like… Continue reading “Going From Electrician to Quality Leader: Julie Stiglish’s Path Into QA/QC”
What’s New in the “Inside the Solar Executive MBA Data Room” Course The original Solar Executive MBA launched in 2012, and it was genuinely ahead of its time. There wasn’t anything else in the industry teaching solar development that way. Now Keith Cronin is bringing that same spirit of innovation to a… Continue reading “What’s New in the “Inside the Solar Executive MBA Data Room” Course”
New Course: Excavation Safety Training Excavation work is unpredictable by nature. Soil, water, and site conditions shift throughout a project, and the crews who stay safe are the ones trained to catch those changes before they become emergencies. HeatSpring’s new Excavation Safety Training course, taught… Continue reading “New Course: Excavation Safety Training”
12 Moments When Utility-Scale Solar Quality Gets Decided Every utility-scale solar project is full of moments where a defect is cheap to catch and later moments where the same defect can cost ten times as much to fix. It turns out that many quality problems on a solar… Continue reading “12 Moments When Utility-Scale Solar Quality Gets Decided”
What Is a Solar Service Agreement (SSA)? Not every offtake structure looks the same once you leave the standard PPA framework, and state rules can change how a project is structured. We asked Keith Cronin, instructor of Inside the Solar Executive MBA Data Room, to explain what… Continue reading “What Is a Solar Service Agreement (SSA)?”
STC, NOCT, and NMOT: Sean White Decodes Test Conditions Used on the PV Module Datasheet Every PV module datasheet lists numbers like open-circuit voltage (VOC), max power voltage (VMP), and short-circuit current (ISC), but a module rarely actually operates at any of them. Differences in temperature and sunlight cause voltage and current to skew one… Continue reading “STC, NOCT, and NMOT: Sean White Decodes Test Conditions Used on the PV Module Datasheet”
What’s ASCE 7? Sean White on Calculating Wind, Snow, and Structural Loads When it comes to snow loads, wind loads, and other structural forces on a building, the International Code Council (ICC) codes give you a general framework. To run the actual calculations, like sizing a beam for a specific roof slope,… Continue reading “What’s ASCE 7? Sean White on Calculating Wind, Snow, and Structural Loads”
What’s the Most Common Fall Hazard Mistake – Even Among Experienced Installers? Ask any safety professional what worries them most, and the answer is rarely a hazard workers don’t recognize. It’s the shortcut they know is risky and do anyway. In this Q&A from our Competent Person Fall Protection Training course, Josh… Continue reading “What’s the Most Common Fall Hazard Mistake – Even Among Experienced Installers? “
Development Service Agreement vs. Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, Explained Solar deals eventually require ownership to change hands, whether a project gets assigned to a developer through a development service agreement (DSA) or an asset gets sold outright through a membership interest purchase agreement (MIPA). We asked Keith Cronin, instructor… Continue reading “Development Service Agreement vs. Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, Explained”
New Course: Utility-Scale Solar QA/QC Fundamentals Julie Stiglish opens her new course with a story straight out of her own field experience: somewhere on a utility-scale site right now, a two-dollar defect is being installed. Nobody’s doing it on purpose. The crew is good, the weather’s… Continue reading “New Course: Utility-Scale Solar QA/QC Fundamentals”
New Course: Trenching and Shoring Safety Trenching can be some of the most dangerous work on a construction or solar site, and it’s also some of the most routine. Conduit needs to go in the ground. Wire needs to be pulled. Crews dig, lay their lines,… Continue reading “New Course: Trenching and Shoring Safety”
Maximum Voltage vs. Peak Voltage: Sean White on Energy Storage System Wire Sizing When you’re sizing wire for an energy storage system, the number you need isn’t the highest voltage the system could ever produce. Instead, it’s a specific, defined value called maximum voltage. In the National Electrical Code Article 706.9, maximum voltage… Continue reading “Maximum Voltage vs. Peak Voltage: Sean White on Energy Storage System Wire Sizing”
New Course: Forklift Operator Training HeatSpring just launched Forklift Operator Training, a two-hour online course that covers the formal instruction portion of OSHA-required forklift certification. Why take this course Forklifts, or powered industrial trucks, are a staple in countless warehouses and industrial facilities. OSHA requires… Continue reading “New Course: Forklift Operator Training”
Flagger Hand Signals Explained Road construction, utility repairs, and lane closures all rely on flaggers: workers positioned at the edge of a work zone, using a paddle, flag, or flashlight to tell drivers when to stop, when to go, and when to slow down.… Continue reading “Flagger Hand Signals Explained “
What the O&M Agreement Covers and Why It’s Tied to Your Financial Model Solar assets need decades of upkeep, and that responsibility needs to be spelled out in the O&M agreement. Skipped infrared testing and visual inspections, excessive panel soiling, or an inverter failure without a response plan in place are just a… Continue reading “What the O&M Agreement Covers and Why It’s Tied to Your Financial Model”
Clawbacks & Milestones: Notable Solar EPC Agreement Clauses The EPC agreement governs the actual construction of a solar project, and two parts in particular can cause problems for developers as projects slip: clawback clauses tied to completion deadlines, and the milestone payment structure that governs how money moves… Continue reading “Clawbacks & Milestones: Notable Solar EPC Agreement Clauses”
New Free Course – Getting Hired in Clean Energy: Resumes and Job Search Know someone looking to break into solar, electrical work, or another clean energy trade? HeatSpring’s Brittany Heller just launched a new free course to help them get there. Getting Hired in Clean Energy: Resumes Writing and Job Search Skills walks… Continue reading “New Free Course – Getting Hired in Clean Energy: Resumes and Job Search”
Ladder Safety with Sean White Falls are one of the most common hazards on a job site, and ladders are often part of that risk, especially on residential solar installs where you’re going up onto a pitched roof. A few specific practices can go a… Continue reading “Ladder Safety with Sean White”