2019 was a big year for the U.S. solar industry: the country surpassed 2 million solar installations early in the year, California celebrated 1 million rooftops with solar this December, and in between the cost of solar reached historic lows. It was a year in which interest in solar–and energy storage–soared nationwide, but especially in wildfire-torn California.
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Solar Shines on the Hill Day 2019: Recap
This week, I had the opportunity to join the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) for their Solar Shines on the Hill Day. The event is a great opportunity to show up in force in Washington DC in support of the solar industry, talking about how the solar jobs that exist throughout the country, and the financial and environmental benefits that home- and business-owners experience from solar in every state. Here’s a quick recap of what we spoke about and what we learned.
Continue readingAn overview of Lumin’s energy management system
When thinking about installing a solar or a solar-plus-storage system at your home or business, there’s one piece of information that is of the utmost importance: how much electricity do you use, and which of your home appliances use that electricity. That’s exactly where Lumin can help: the three-year-old, Charlottesville, Virginia-based company is joining the relatively nascent field of creating smart circuits, allowing you to dynamically choose or automate what to power with your solar and storage, which is especially useful in the event of an outage.
Continue readingTesla Q3 2019 earnings call: what you need to know
As a publicly-traded company, Tesla presents quarterly reports to shareholders, analysts, and the media about the state of the company. While most coverage of these quarterly earnings calls focuses on the company’s electric vehicle business or their financial standing, we want to provide an analysis of what their reports reveal about Tesla’s solar and storage business. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know from Tesla’s Q3 2019 earnings call:
Continue readingHow many panels do you need for your EV?
One of the primary benefits of purchasing an electric vehicle is that it allows you to transition from paying for gasoline to lower-cost electricity. But why not take that one step further and power your car with clean, solar power you produce on your own property? Here’s a quick breakdown to help determine how many solar panels you need to power your electric vehicle (EV) with solar.
Continue readingSoleil Lofts’ virtual power plant: what you need to know
In August 2019, the solar and storage industries took a giant leap forward with the introduction of the Soleil Lofts virtual power plant project. The apartment complex, which lies just south of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a unique, first-of-its-kind collaboration between a building developer, an energy storage company, a major utility and a local solar installation company. To learn how the Soleil Lofts project came together, and to get a feel for the lessons learned during the process, EnergySage sat down with Jess Phillips, the CEO and founder of Auric Energy, the solar and energy storage developer responsible for the project.
Continue readingHow to determine what electric rate you’re on
A recent report from the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative found that half of all electricity customers don’t know what electric rate they are on, which begs the question: what electric rate are you on? And what do different electricity rates actually mean?
Continue readingSolar Power International 2019 round-up
September means one thing in the solar industry: Solar Power International (SPI). EnergySage sent a team to this year’s version of the industry’s largest trade show in Salt Lake City, where we reconnected with old partners, met many new ones, checked in on the last year of evolution on solar, and learned about where the industry is headed over the coming quarters or even years. Here are our primary takeaways from the show.
Continue readingHighlights from the ninth EnergySage Solar Marketplace Intel Report
This week, EnergySage released our ninth Solar Marketplace Intel Report™. The publicly available report provides data on the state of the solar market nationwide and at the state level. In this report, we introduced a number of new analyses, from a direct comparison of EnergySage quote data to installed cost data nationally, to a breakdown of the quality of equipment quoted and installed both on and off the EnergySage Marketplace. A couple of key takeaways are outlined below, and we look forward to your analysis and feedback on the report.
Continue readingWhat happens if your solar inverter fails?
Solar energy systems are built to last and are designed to produce solar electricity reliably for 25 years or more. In some instances, though, individual components of a solar energy system may malfunction or break altogether. If you’ve installed solar, here’s what to do if your solar inverter fails.
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