Solar Builder is teaming with ARPA-E to detail academic research into the value of high-efficiency solar panels in residential applications. The findings will be in an article in our Q1 print issue (subscribe here), but the researchers will also be explaining their findings (and taking questions) in a Solar BuilderRead More

For homeowners who live off-grid, prepping for winter weather and months with lower solar production means ensuring that their solar+energy storage system is able to produce enough power to endure long, cold nights and periods of inclement weather. Most off-grid systems rely on flooded lead acid (FLA) batteries to provideRead More

Looking back at 2019, if I had to pick a pun moniker for the solar industry (and I do), it wasn’t so much a ‘solar-coaster’ as it was a ‘solar derby.’ Established companies, technologies and ideas were all bashing into each other, forming alliances and finding other competitive edges toRead More

2020 – the dawn of the Solar+ Decade – kicks off with the official launch of California’s much heralded (and controversial) Building Energy Efficiency Standards Title 24 mandate that all new residential construction include a solar energy component. If you spent most of 2019 waiting out the end times inRead More

  The wildfires and resulting (and ongoing) public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) are leaving thousands of Californians without power and searching for answers. As a solar installer, you are in a prime spot to provide some of those answers in the form of backup storage. “Solar system owners in CaliforniaRead More

In 2008, when the investment tax credit (ITC) came into play, people had no idea what a power purchase agreement (PPA) was. Fast forward 10 years to 2018 and there is 300x growth in corporate energy procurement through PPAs. The market has matured, and a lot of different investors areRead More

When I first saw the Esdec FlatFix at Solar Power International in Anaheim in 2018, I thought the Netherlands-based solar racking company had a chance to make a dent in the commercial rooftop segment in the United States based on its slick system design. Fast-forward a calendar year and IRead More

  This final article in our Countdown to 2020 series originally appeared in the November/December 2019 issue of Solar Builder. Subscribe here for free if you haven’t already.  The launch of California’s Title 24 new build solar mandate is less than two months away, and it’s nowhere near the topRead More

The residential solar + storage market is still more buzz than business as we finish out 2019, but Generac, the largest brand in the home standby generator space, has plans to single-handedly change that going into 2020. I don’t think that’s an overstatement, either. There is momentum in residential solarRead More

At Solar Power International this year we chatted with Ravindra Vaidya, VP of global markets for Vikram Solar, about the company’s upcoming big push into the United States. Here’s what we learned. Created in 2006 by the Vikram Group, Vikram Solar is a global manufacturer of Tier 1 PV modulesRead More