Solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies have all too often been forced to choose solar components for projects as a function of what is available in a given timeframe rather than what is preferred. While cost may not be a great issue in these cases, making all the partsRead More

Permanent, reliable generation is the ultimate goal of any microgrid development. Without support, the weight of the equipment and pads/skids will cause sinking and tilting of the equipment that could result in system failure. In many areas, these installations must also be secure enough to withstand the possibility of extremeRead More

Traditionally, DC-coupled systems were used mainly in small domestic and off-grid applications. Systems using a charger controller to control the power into the chemical storage, or battery bank, were also not typically used commercially. The DC input voltage into the charger controller was close to the nominal battery voltage inRead More

The U.S. energy storage market is growing tremendously. Indeed, IHS Markit projects that over 40 GW of energy storage capacity will be installed by 2022, starting from a base of only 0.34 GW installed in 2012 and 2013. This growth of the U.S. energy storage market is driven by severalRead More

Solar Power International is an untamable beast for us trade publication writers. Hundreds of exhibitors with new products and services, tracks and tracks of educational sessions and a ton of on- and off-the-record tidbits from casual conversations. Plus, beers start pouring around noon. So, yeah. I jotted down as muchRead More

With solar power coming to every new home, the solar sector and grid planners in California try to meet in the middle When it comes to driving solar capacity, California is basically the overachieving kid in class who does all of the work and lets other slacker states glance atRead More

  We asked for you to send us your coolest, most innovative and noteworthy solar projects of the last 12 months and, boy, did all of you deliver. From among the record amount of submissions, the Solar Builder editorial team has selected the best of the best as nominees forRead More

It’s gonna break my heart to see it blown to bits. That’s the refrain of the best song of 2019, “Blown to Bits” by Charly Bliss — a catchy rumination on the state of the world right now. It was playing in my headphones as I put this section togetherRead More

Inverter specialist Fronius has been diligently preparing a suite of new soft- and hardware solutions for residential and commercial solar applications, including an all-new single-phase inverter generation, that they believe will take solar to the “next level.” In this Solar Business Builder white paper, Fronius explains the four attributes thatRead More

Solar for low-income housing is caught in a Catch-22. Residents in a low-income community would get a huge benefit from the savings and energy independence, but financing and installing systems on multifamily properties is super complex and, in the case of federal housing assistance, actually prohibited – which seems nonsensical.Read More