How to Find Employees with the Skills You Need (Pt. 2) It’s no secret that one of the most challenging aspects of operating a solar or other clean energy business is sourcing and hiring new employees. Buzz about the ‘skills gap’ across the trades, STEM, and other careers points to a… Continue reading “How to Find Employees with the Skills You Need (Pt. 2)”
Got Talent? HeatSpring Wants to Help You Bring New Employees into Solar I think we can all agree that the first quarter of 2025 was marked by uncertainty in the U.S. market. We see this in the usual economic indicators, but also in the ‘wait and see’ mood across the industry, as… Continue reading “Got Talent? HeatSpring Wants to Help You Bring New Employees into Solar”
An Easy Win: I Will Set Up a Free Employee Learning Platform for Your Team The solar industry needs more people. So every solar company leader should know about this free benefit: For $0 any solar company can use HeatSpring as a learning platform to train employees. You can request yours right now. It takes… Continue reading “An Easy Win: I Will Set Up a Free Employee Learning Platform for Your Team”
Earn NABCEP Credits, Learn Solar PV Basics for Free “Introduction to Solar PV Design, Installation and Code” is the most popular free course we’ve ever offered. Almost 7,000 people have taken it. Recently we began the ongoing process of updating the course and took the additional step of getting… Continue reading “Earn NABCEP Credits, Learn Solar PV Basics for Free”
Access the Tools, Network & Knowledge You Need to Advance Your Solar Career Here are the powerhouse solar courses you don’t want to miss: Megawatt Design – Master large-scale solar project design, learn how to get your projects permitted and installed faster and cheaper. Access valuable tools and resources, while advancing your career and the… Continue reading “Access the Tools, Network & Knowledge You Need to Advance Your Solar Career”
Meet NABCEP! By now, all solar professionals have heard of the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) certifications. But, what does it mean to be NABCEP certified, and how can you get certified? How is the new Associate Program different from… Continue reading “Meet NABCEP!”
Are you ready to teach with HeatSpring? Are you a renewables or sustainability expert? Want to grow your network, make money and share your expertise? Teach with HeatSpring today! Who are we? HeatSpring is an online training company offering free and paid courses in residential and commercial… Continue reading “Are you ready to teach with HeatSpring?”
Get Ahead of the Curve in the Solar Industry The solar industry in the U.S. is growing at a breakneck pace. A recent report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association states that, for the first time in well over a decade, the U.S. is expected to… Continue reading “Get Ahead of the Curve in the Solar Industry”
Two Things You Should Know About the Michigan Solar Industry The Open PV Project ranks Michigan as the 28th best state for solar PV with 7.09 MW of installed capacity. Here are two things you might not know about the Michigan solar industry if you’re not spending a lot of… Continue reading “Two Things You Should Know About the Michigan Solar Industry”
What Every Renewable Energy Trainer Needs to Do to Stay Relevant My #1 piece of advice to all trainers for the next five years: create a digital version of your content. Do it now. Create it in little packets so you can deliver them in an agile way across a variety… Continue reading “What Every Renewable Energy Trainer Needs to Do to Stay Relevant”
50% Off Solar Training for Massachusetts Based Employees and Companies, up to $3,000 per Employee and $30,000 per Company This article is quick, but awesome! If you’re a Massachusetts company and looking to train employees on solar, you can apply for a workforce training grants and get 50% off, 3 HeatSpring trainings. This is for companies that need to… Continue reading “50% Off Solar Training for Massachusetts Based Employees and Companies, up to $3,000 per Employee and $30,000 per Company”
Alumni Profile: Virgil Bellini & the Growth of California Solar Thermal California Solar Thermal (CST) is a San Diego-based solar installation business on pace to do 42 solar thermal projects this year. According to California Solar Statistics data they are the #1 solar thermal company in southern California, and are currently… Continue reading “Alumni Profile: Virgil Bellini & the Growth of California Solar Thermal”
Finance 101 for Solar Thermal Pros In this article, I’ll go through the basic step-by-step process of how to evaluate, understand and communicate the financial benefits of investing in a solar thermal system. The analysis will be on the client side, but obviously it’s critical for… Continue reading “Finance 101 for Solar Thermal Pros”
Jigar Shah’s Call to Arms For Small Solar Companies Everywhere This week I flew to Chicago for the Illinois Solar Energy Association fund raiser. Jigar Shah delivered the keynote to 70 registrants, packed into Emmett’s Place in Palatine. I left at 9:30pm with an excited sense that Solar PV in… Continue reading “Jigar Shah’s Call to Arms For Small Solar Companies Everywhere”
Solar Financing Options and the Benefits of Each The residential, commercial and utility scale solar financing markets are different and have their own dynamics. If you’re really interested in learn more about financing commercial solar PV projects, I have three resources for you. Click here to sign up… Continue reading “Solar Financing Options and the Benefits of Each”
Designing a “Sellable” Solar (or Geothermal) Company – Part 2 In my last post, I wrote about my marketing plan for starting a renewable energy company that will be an offshoot of an existing construction company in the great state of Maine. Now, I’m going to discuss how we’ll be setting up… Continue reading “Designing a “Sellable” Solar (or Geothermal) Company – Part 2″
The Solar Interconnection Process 101 The “interconnection process” is the processes by which an electric generating facility (solar, wind, biomass, coal, etc) is allowed to connect to and supply the grid with power. The interconnection process is sometimes overlooked by new solar companies but it’s very important… Continue reading “The Solar Interconnection Process 101”
16 Questions Every Profitable Solar Startup Should Be Able to Answer We recently installed a chat feature on HeatSpring so that we could better assist visitors and customers with any questions they may have. Last week, I had a great conversation with a fellow from New Jersey who was looking to… Continue reading “16 Questions Every Profitable Solar Startup Should Be Able to Answer”
The IREC 2010 US Solar Trends Report, 3 Things It Means for Solar Contractors. A few week’s ago, I wrote about SEIA’s solar market research and what this means for you, the solar contractor. Recently, IREC released their annual solar market report with the optimistic title: “Solar Markets in the US: Big, Booming, And… Continue reading “The IREC 2010 US Solar Trends Report, 3 Things It Means for Solar Contractors.”
Five Key Items for Writing a Solid Renewable Energy Sales Proposal If you’re currently a contractor and interested in entering or expanding your business into the renewable energy industry, there are four main hurdles you will face. Understanding the technology. See this free course to learn more about the technology basics.… Continue reading “Five Key Items for Writing a Solid Renewable Energy Sales Proposal”