Your Second Half of 2020 When we were kids and we were learning how to play a game or a sport, we didn’t know what to do. We sometimes asked for a do-over. Most of us would feel the same way about 2020 up to… Continue reading “Your Second Half of 2020”
Announcing “Team Dashboards” More groups and teams are using HeatSpring than ever before. We were a little slow to respond do that change, but we just launched ‘Team Dashboards” so people can be more connected with their teammates. Company leaders can view which… Continue reading “Announcing “Team Dashboards””
How Deeply do you Understand Electrical Distribution? For the past thirteen years we’ve focused on power generation. Solar PV is distributed electricity generation. Today we’re announcing a new series of courses focused on electricity distribution. We’ve partnered with DISTRIBUTECH International to bring the most popular content from… Continue reading “How Deeply do you Understand Electrical Distribution?”
NABCEP to Offer Online Certification Exams Update 6/16/2020: Live Online Proctoring is now available for all NABCEP Board Certification and Associate credentialing exams. Due to concerns about the COVID-19 emergency, NABCEP has decided to offer all Board Certification and Associate level exams through live online proctoring (LOP).… Continue reading “NABCEP to Offer Online Certification Exams”
Striking a Balance Between Aggressive and Conservative Solar Project Designs It’s tempting to pack a roof with too many solar panels to sell a system, says Randy Batchelor, instructor, along with Ryan Mayfield, of HeatSpring’s Megawatt Design course. “An engineer might say, ‘It will only fit 1 MW.’ A salesperson… Continue reading “Striking a Balance Between Aggressive and Conservative Solar Project Designs”
Getting Started: Your First Day Flying a Drone “Liz got the hang of things immediately so I envision a long and illustrious Part 107 career for her!” – Instructor Keven Gambold Liz is starting the Drone Pilot Boot Camp in a few weeks, but she had a chance… Continue reading “Getting Started: Your First Day Flying a Drone”
How Drones Reduce the Cost of Solar Many solar companies employ an in-house drone pilot. Why? Because drones lower the cost of design, installation, inspections and maintenance in solar projects of all sizes. They can help save a lot of money on big projects, and a little… Continue reading “How Drones Reduce the Cost of Solar”
Solar Legend Lends Expertise to HeatSpring Courses with Sean White Solar legend Bill Brooks has partnered with HeatSpring instructor Sean White to prepare new materials for some of White’s courses that train students to take NABCEP exams. Brooks, who calls himself an ambassador for solar technology, is an engineer with… Continue reading “Solar Legend Lends Expertise to HeatSpring Courses with Sean White”
Bringing More PV Online with Power Control Systems If you’re a PV solar producer who is not home for a week, the PV may fill up your battery storage and send too much current to the grid, possibly violating NEC or other rules. If this is likely to… Continue reading “Bringing More PV Online with Power Control Systems”
New Drone Pilot Training Program Builds Skills for the Renewable Energy Industry This release originally appeared on PR Fire The new “Drone Pilot Boot Camp + FAA Part 107 Exam Prep” is a collaboration between three companies: HeatSpring, Little Arms, and Unmanned Experts. They’ve built this unmanned aircract commercial operations course especially… Continue reading “New Drone Pilot Training Program Builds Skills for the Renewable Energy Industry”
Best Practices for Hiring, Training and Retaining Installation Crews A major challenge for renewable energy companies right now is a labor crunch; it’s hard to line up workers and salespeople in the industry, says Ryan Carda, principal engineer, Dandelion Energy, whose company uses HeatSpring for Groups courses to prepare… Continue reading “Best Practices for Hiring, Training and Retaining Installation Crews”
Energy Modeling with the Latest Update to ASHRAE’s Standards The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has implemented a new update that will ultimately make energy modeling simpler, says Chris Schaffner, instructor for HeatSpring’s Energy Modeling in eQUEST course. ASHRAE’s standard 90.1, which covers energy codes,… Continue reading “Energy Modeling with the Latest Update to ASHRAE’s Standards”
More Cities and Towns Calling for Energy Modeling to Address Climate Change With the federal government’s lack of movement on climate change, more cities and towns are stepping up and focusing on ways to address climate change, says Chris Schaffner, instructor for HeatSpring’s Energy Modeling in eQUEST course. That means that the… Continue reading “More Cities and Towns Calling for Energy Modeling to Address Climate Change”
Not All Lithium Ion is the Same in Energy Storage Systems Not all lithium ion is the same in the batteries that make up energy storage systems, says Wes Kennedy, instructor of HeatSpring’s Comprehensive Solar Plus Storage course. “Chemistry matters,” he says. “Lithium ion is a huge catch-all term for about… Continue reading “Not All Lithium Ion is the Same in Energy Storage Systems”
Creating a Flexible Financial Model that Incorporates the ITC Changes It’s not unusual for people in a rush to hard wire some information into the formulas of their financial models for solar projects, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course along with co-instructor Keith Cronin. But… Continue reading “Creating a Flexible Financial Model that Incorporates the ITC Changes”
Solar Plus Storage is Creating Islands of Resiliency in Communities and Businesses A large portion of Puerto Rico was blacked out after earthquakes in early January, but solar plus storage systems helped keep power flowing in many schools that served as community shelters. Wes Kennedy, instructor of HeatSpring’s Comprehensive Solar Plus Storage… Continue reading “Solar Plus Storage is Creating Islands of Resiliency in Communities and Businesses”
A Shared Training Experience for Groups of Employees in Solar Companies Ben Ellis, field service manager for Solect Energy, says a major challenge for his company is keeping employees up to date on the rapidly changing solar industry. The best way to keep his team prepared for change is through education,… Continue reading “A Shared Training Experience for Groups of Employees in Solar Companies”
Coming Soon: Ordering Modular Energy Storage to Meet Electricity Demand When Guests Visit In the near future, energy storage will be modular, and you’ll be able to order or rent energy storage modules when your electricity needs increase, if you have guests, for example. You’ll likely pair the battery storage with solar PV… Continue reading “Coming Soon: Ordering Modular Energy Storage to Meet Electricity Demand When Guests Visit”
Why Peak Shaving Using Energy Storage is a Good Idea Companies can pay high “demand charges” from utilities for using large amounts of energy during their monthly billing cycle. But they can lower these demand charges through solar and strategic use of storage, says Christopher Lord, instructor, along with Keith… Continue reading “Why Peak Shaving Using Energy Storage is a Good Idea”
Adopting the “Minnesota Nice” Model to Collaborate with Utilities for a Win-Win Over Solar-Plus-Storage Utilities often try to stop or slow solar-plus-storage projects at the Public Utility Commissions, says Christopher LaForge, instructor of HeatSpring’s Comprehensive Solar Plus Storage course. In one such effort, We Energies, Wisconsin’s largest utility, increased its fee for connecting to… Continue reading “Adopting the “Minnesota Nice” Model to Collaborate with Utilities for a Win-Win Over Solar-Plus-Storage”