Operations and maintenance (O&M) is mostly about keeping the status quo of a solar plant. Fix issues. Prevent failures. Hit benchmarks. But in a tech-driven industry, is maintaining the status quo of a decades-old legacy site the best strategy? Many plant owners and operators are facing this question as theirRead More

Monitoring is essential to effectively manage and optimize the performance of solar PV systems, particularly commercial sites, as they are likely to have revenue-grade production, inverter-level monitoring capabilities, weather stations and additional load monitoring at the site. For sites measuring performance-based incentives such as Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECS) orRead More

A strong residential solar industry is developed, in part, by quality PV system products and the strong brands behind those products. Solar installation contractors who partner with these companies – via partnership programs or dealer networks – can also reap other ancillary benefits to build a stronger business, from preferredRead More

Tigo Energy received UL PVRSS (Photovoltaic Rapid Shutdown System) certifications for approximately 30 inverter models, bringing its certified inverter total to more than 200 inverters from 17 different companies. Tigo already had the largest network of certified inverters for customers to choose from and this adds even more options toRead More

After the Solar Builder readers cast their votes to choose our annual Project of the Year winners, Solar Builder’s editor gets to pick his favorites among the Project of the Year field of nominees. In a variety of categories from the Most Resilient to the Coolest Carport, here are the 2020 SolarRead More

State of Virginia | 1.25 MW in total (6 rooftops) Nonprofits and places of worship are in that no man’s land when it comes to solar — operations that would benefit immensely from the savings of renewable energy but with no easy path to financing. The 2020 C&I Rooftop ProjectRead More

Solar Builder readers submitted their coolest, most innovative and noteworthy solar projects of the last 12 months, and after combing through another record amount of submissions, we’ve narrowed the field to these 2020 Project of the Year nominees! This year the field is divided into FIVE categories: Residential (single-family, multi-family)Read More

The interest in and adoption of residential storage in the US has grown at a healthy pace in the last few years. Guidance on how to size a system, particularly for AC coupled storage solutions, is a common request from installers with customers interested in adding storage. Few areas inRead More

Product choice has been an issue with rapid shutdown requirements since the NEC 2017 update, but that tide is starting to turn. Six additional members within the SunSpec Alliance ranks have announced products and services supporting the SunSpec Communication Signal for Rapid Shutdown standard, bringing the size of the SunSpecRead More

Best LMI Concept The Maycroft Resiliency Center | Washington, D.C. | 62 kW Developers: PEPCO, Jubilee Housing, New Partners Community Solar, Clean Energy Group Contractors: Solar Solution, SunCatch Energy Modules: Boviet Inverters: Enphase, Schneider Storage: Simpliphi Mounting: PanelClaw Jubilee Housing and PEPCO, along with New Partners Community Solar and theRead More