Inside the Solar Executive MBA Data Room We just published a new course, and there’s nothing else like it in the world: Inside the Solar Executive MBA Data Room. Keith Cronin opened up actual data room documents and models he uses to develop, finance, and sell solar… Continue reading “Inside the Solar Executive MBA Data Room”
How Standards Harmonization Is Making Energy Storage Easier to Permit and Inspect Article 706 on energy storage systems didn’t undergo sweeping changes in the 2026 NEC, but what did shift is worth noting, especially for anyone who has found the permitting and inspection side of ESS work frustrating. Rebekah Hren of Solar… Continue reading “How Standards Harmonization Is Making Energy Storage Easier to Permit and Inspect”
What Is a Power Control System (PCS) and Why Does It Matter for Solar and Storage Installers? Power control systems are showing up more and more in solar, storage, and electrical infrastructure, but some practitioners haven’t encountered the term yet. Brian Mehalic breaks down what a PCS actually is and why it’s worth understanding now. Essentially, a… Continue reading “What Is a Power Control System (PCS) and Why Does It Matter for Solar and Storage Installers?”
The 2029 NEC Is Going to Look Very Different. Here’s What’s Coming. The 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) revision cycle has come and gone, but the work of the code-making panels never really stops. The 2029 cycle is already well underway, public inputs have been submitted, and task groups are working through… Continue reading “The 2029 NEC Is Going to Look Very Different. Here’s What’s Coming.”
What 30 Years in the Electrical Trade Taught Jason Brozen About Keeping Workers Safe In March 2026, HeatSpring’s Brian Hayden sat down with Jason Brozen at the NABCEP Conference in Milwaukee for a conversation on the Suncast Media stage. Jason is the Safety and Technical Training Manager at Tyndale, a master electrician with 30… Continue reading “What 30 Years in the Electrical Trade Taught Jason Brozen About Keeping Workers Safe “
New Course: 15-Hour PV and the 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) from Sean White & Bill Brooks If you’ve taken a Sean White course before, you already know the drill: dense technical material, delivered with plenty of humor so you actually remember it. Sean has built a following of repeat learners who come back every code cycle… Continue reading “New Course: 15-Hour PV and the 2026 National Electrical Code (NEC) from Sean White & Bill Brooks”
What Does SCADA Connect on a Utility-Scale Solar Project? On a utility-scale solar project, SCADA connects three distinct parts of the system: the PV equipment, the substation, and the utility. Each layer often speaks a different protocol, and understanding how they fit together is foundational to working with these… Continue reading “What Does SCADA Connect on a Utility-Scale Solar Project? “
New Course: Development in Utility-Scale Solar Many people who work in solar have never seen all the work that gets put in before construction begins. If you’re in construction, you inherit a project that someone else spent years putting together. If you’re in finance or asset… Continue reading “New Course: Development in Utility-Scale Solar”
New Course: Basics of Commissioning on Utility-Scale Solar Commissioning is where a solar construction site becomes a power plant. It’s also where schedule delays get expensive fast, defects cost more to fix than they did during construction, and the utility, owner’s engineer, lender’s engineer, and equipment vendors all… Continue reading “New Course: Basics of Commissioning on Utility-Scale Solar”
The Interconnection Review Process, Explained A clean energy customer’s excitement can fade fast if their project hits a roadblock. One day they’re signing a contract, the next they’re asking you why nothing has happened. The answer is often interconnection. If you work in a customer-facing… Continue reading “The Interconnection Review Process, Explained “
New Course: Owning the Customer Interconnection Experience Many people get introduced to interconnection the same way: someone hands them a stack of utility paperwork and says, we need these filed. So they do. They submit the applications. Then a problem comes up, and they realize there’s a… Continue reading “New Course: Owning the Customer Interconnection Experience”
New Course Announcement: Transformer Specification & Applications for Inverter-Based Resources As many residential solar designers move up into larger C&I and utility-scale projects, the work starts to look pretty different from a rooftop install. Transformer specification is one of those areas where the learning curve shows up fast and where… Continue reading “New Course Announcement: Transformer Specification & Applications for Inverter-Based Resources”
How the Future of DER Interconnection Could Mirror the Evolution of Booking a Flight The interconnection process can make or break a project. And yet, it’s difficult to tell exactly how bad the bottlenecks truly are. Distribution-level interconnection data is fragmented across more than 3,000 utilities regulated by 50 different states, with few central… Continue reading “How the Future of DER Interconnection Could Mirror the Evolution of Booking a Flight”
What is an Energy Market Forecaster for ESS? If a battery energy storage system is going to make money in a wholesale energy market, it needs to know something the market hasn’t told it yet – where prices are headed. That’s the job of an energy market forecaster.… Continue reading “What is an Energy Market Forecaster for ESS?”
What is a Battery Simulator? If you’re building software for battery energy storage systems, you can’t just plug into a real battery every time you want to test something. That’s expensive, potentially damaging, and frankly impractical. That’s where battery simulators come in. In Peter Gruenbaum’s… Continue reading “What is a Battery Simulator? “
New Course: Software for In Front of the Meter Battery Systems According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, developers plan to add 24 GW of utility-scale battery storage to the grid in 2026 – on top of the record 15 GW added in 2025 and more than 40 GW over the… Continue reading “New Course: Software for In Front of the Meter Battery Systems”
New Course: Energy Storage Finance Energy storage has crossed a threshold. The technology is mature, costs have come down dramatically, and customers are asking for it. Now the real work is figuring out how to structure a deal that actually pencils. Wes Kennedy has spent… Continue reading “New Course: Energy Storage Finance”
1 FREE NABCEP CEU – How We Got Here: A (Riveting!) History of DER Interconnection in the U.S. If you’ve ever hit a wall on a solar or storage project because of interconnection delays, confusing utility procedures, or regulations that seem to make no sense – this new course is for you. HeatSpring just launched a new, free… Continue reading “1 FREE NABCEP CEU – How We Got Here: A (Riveting!) History of DER Interconnection in the U.S.”
Why Just Adding Batteries Won’t Solve Your Interconnection Problems When a solar project gets denied interconnection approval due to grid constraints, the natural impulse is to find a workaround. Can’t export to the grid? Can’t you just add batteries and keep everything on-site? If you’re not sending power back… Continue reading “Why Just Adding Batteries Won’t Solve Your Interconnection Problems “
What is the 120% “Rule” in Solar PV Design? If you’ve spent any time learning about solar PV systems, you’ve probably heard someone mention the 120% “rule.” It turns out that it’s not actually a rule at all. It’s one of several options for connecting solar to the utility… Continue reading “What is the 120% “Rule” in Solar PV Design?”