Commercial rooftops offer a ton of potential job opportunities for solar installers and developers going forward. Analysts at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimate a technical potential of 1,118 GW of capacity and 1,432 TWh of annual energy generation, equivalent to 39 percent of the nation’s electricityRead More

Wires are good for two things: 1) Installing a kick-ass PV system 2) Tripping people up. To accomplish the first, you must avoid the second at all costs, which means implementing a sound wire management plan on projects of all sizes. Planning Just like the rest of the system, planningRead More

In the December 2016 Solar Builder, I discussed the industry evolution from passive to active and dynamic systems. Here’s a primer on control systems and how to make them work for your project. The Basics Clients frequently ask how trackers will respond to a given condition. Your tracker manufacturer willRead More

For the first time ever, in 2016, U.S. solar ranked as the No. 1 source of new electric generating capacity additions on an annual basis. In total, solar accounted for 39 percent of new capacity additions across all fuel types, and these big numbers are coming via big installs asRead More

You’ve probably heard, but more solar is being installed than ever before. As the cost of solar dropped the last decade, the economic case in areas of the country with high electricity prices was simple. This isn’t the case in the Midwest, where energy costs are lower, which keeps everyoneRead More

The following advice was sent our way via Civic Solar. Check them out here. Clamps, the racking component used to fasten and ground modules to rails, are an integral component of a racking system. Knowing what to look for in a clamp is a great place to start when vettingRead More