Continuing education is important in all industries, especially solar. As technologies evolve, new installation techniques arise to make solar systems safer and more efficient. The best place to learn these new skills is often at tradeshows and conferences, when more industry peers are together to exchange tips and tricks. On account of coronavirus halting gatherings…

By Kevin Mulvey, Manager of Product & Technology, Energy Toolbase The behind-the-meter energy storage market posted another year of record growth in 2019, according to Wood Mackenzie’s latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report. In Q3 2019, energy storage deployments grew 93% versus Q3 2018, with behind-the-meter projects accounting for 55% of the total storage market.…

By John Connell, VP of SLI products at Crown Battery Manufacturing Co. It’s easy for batteries to thrive in laboratory conditions or computer simulations. Too often, these perfect conditions are the source of marketing claims like 10-year guarantees. But the real world isn’t as forgiving. In the field, experimental battery designs can fail early. And…

By John Connell, VP of Crown Battery’s SLI Products Group Oversize your solar panels, inverters and batteries and you’ll waste money. Undersize your system and you’ll compromise battery life or run out of power — particularly on cloudy days. But if you find the “Goldilocks zone” of ample battery capacity, your solar-plus-storage project will work…

2018 witnessed unprecedented records for the economics of solar-plus-storage, demonstrating a variety of value streams and thus making the tale of this marriage all the more compelling. The plummeting costs of batteries, particularly lithium-ion, paired with changes in net metering policies, have forged opportunities for cost-effective use of solar+storage. According to Wood Mackenzie Power &…