Every burgeoning industry is akin to the Wild West. The solar energy industry is no different, with its own version of western tropes — cowboys, drifters, lawmen, barons, settlers and townsfolk. However, perhaps the most destructive trope in the West and in solar is the snake oil salesman. From conferencesRead More

Loanpal has ascended the solar financing ranks the last few years, and it looks to keep momentum going during this COVID-19 slowdown. Loanpal is partnering with more than a dozen solar equipment distributors in the U.S. to open up access to financing for hundreds of solar companies that might notRead More

Sizing out a PV system is somewhat simple. Sizing the storage element to pair with it is much more nuanced and complex depending on whether the battery is just for backup (and how much back up) or for daily cycling (or both!) and what the ROI would be based onRead More

Within the last year, the Inovateus Solar leadership team determined that they would take the initiative to embrace environmentally friendly solutions across multiple areas of operations. As a renewable energy company, our team felt a responsibility to implement measures that support triple bottom line practices: people, planet and profit. FoundedRead More

Driven by rapidly declining costs and 100 percent clean energy commitments from corporations and municipalities, demand for large-scale solar energy development is surging. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) forecasts farmers and other landowners will lease 2-3 million acres of land for ground-mounted solar arrays by 2030, a 10-fold increaseRead More

Solar systems are 20+ year assets — and a lot can change in 20 years. A homeowner could add an electric vehicle. Lithium-ion batteries could drop dramatically in price. Time of use rates could go into effect and net metering could disappear. We chat with Jeff McAndrew, director of salesRead More

Solar PV and battery storage systems have been paired together for decades, but a new wave of hybrid inverters have entered the market to streamline how these systems install and operate. Jeff McAndrew, director of sales for clean energy solutions at Generac, joins us to explain how a hybrid inverterRead More

This article appears in the Spring 2020 issue of Solar Builder. Subscribe here for free (digital or print). With fewer ground-mount solar sites featuring flat, open terrain, we’re fortunate to have a new generation of fixed-tilt and tracker systems that offer greater flexibility and slope tolerances. By adjusting the postRead More

Like small businesses worldwide, many solar businesses are looking for ways to contain costs in order to continue to operate successfully and take care of their employees through any COVID-19-related economic ups and downs. Here are three simple strategies for potential savings. Audit Software Subscriptions and Save Hundreds Each MonthRead More

From the Energy News Network: Solar installers in Ameren Illinois’ territory have hit a key milestone, prompting a regulatory process with high stakes for the future of rooftop solar in the state. Illinois’ 2017 Future Energy Jobs Act calls for replacing retail net metering with a localized value-of-solar rate asRead More