By Edward Harner

As I and ten of my colleagues from Green Solar Technologies walked around on a guided tour of Mission Solar’s solar panel manufacturing facilities in San Antonio, TX, I thought about the long/convoluted path we took to get here.

In the middle of 2017, Suniva and Solarworld asked us to testify on their behalf in front of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC), in favor of tariffs being imposed on foreign made panels. The request was one that we had to consider carefully as we were going to be the only installer going against the stance of SEIA (the Solar Energy Industries Association). There was also the very real risk that our testimony would cause the prices of all solar panels to increase, thereby negatively affecting not only the industry as a whole, but also our financial wellbeing..

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Remember when you were in school and your teacher assigned you a book report that wasn’t due for two weeks? Did you rush home and knock out the report right away? Of course not. You waited until the day before the report was due, and then rushed together a couple of pages that were just good enough to get you a passing grade. Unfortunately we carry some of the bad habits from our youth into our adulthood. The cost of procrastination is much more expensive as we get older, but it doesn’t stop it from happening. “I need to go to the dentist” or “I should see a doctor about this” are phrases that are uttered thousands of times daily. A phrase that is becoming more popular is “I should look into solar.” And while a lot of people are moving away from electric company dependence and toward self-generated, clean, renewable energy, a lot of people are...

When you go solar, the first and most critical step in the process is choosing the right installer. The decision you make here will favorably or negatively affect everything that follows. Choosing a reputable installer whose primary interest is your satisfaction ensures that you will have a system that is cost effective, reliable, and best suited to your personal needs.

Green Solar Technologies, a leader in the solar panel installation industry, recognizes the importance of an exceptional installation process. GST takes pride in being among the most reputable and trustworthy U.S. solar companies and in being the only solar company in the U.S. to use exclusively high-quality, American-made parts.

Materials Matter

A good indicator that you’ve picked the right installer is the quality...

We are living in the waning last days of the energy sector powered by fossil fuel dependency . For the better part of the past 150 years, substances like coal, oil, and natural gas have been the status quo energy sources of the world. Over the past few decades, we have heard about solar as a clean energy alternative, but we’ve largely treated it like some type of sorcery or mysterious devil’s power. But is it really that strange? The reality may SHOCK you...

Consider this: The sun warms the planet, drives the hydrologic cycle, and makes all of life on earth possible. The amount of solar energy received on earth's surface is affected by the angle of the sun relative to the earth, the output of the sun, and the cyclic...

As a solar industry marketing and media veteran of over 5 years, I have been very much in tune with the substantial benefits solar can offer. Unfortunately, there are many companies out there that, presumably to provide a sales proposition unique from other solar companies, are making grossly deceptive claims and promises. They do this to generate responses, then spin their claims once a prospect connects with them to learn more. This bait-and-switch practice of generating responses is a short-term strategy that will turn off potential customers of that company and of the solar industry as a whole (guilt by association). I continuously see and hear multiple advertising messages for solar that deceive prospective customers into believing that solar, which legitimately offers many superlative advantages, is something it is not.

False claims being...

Arizona could be the next state to establish a statewide goal for the increased use of renewable energy. In the upcoming 2018 midterm elections Arizona residents will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 127, a measure that, according to cleanhealthyaz.com, would take advantage of Arizona’s climate and “gradually increase the amount of our energy that utilities get from renewable sources, like solar and wind, to 50% by 2030—up from 15% today.” The measure would also require that Arizona draw 10% of all energy from distributed sources like rooftop solar panels.

According to the Arizona Renewable Energy Assessment, “Arizona is thought by many to have relatively limited opportunities for comparatively lower cost renewables, such as wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric.” This leaves solar holding the greatest promise for Arizona’s future renewable energy growth....

The focus of a new initiative in the U.S. will be its $1 per Watt soft costs for residential PV systems. The Solar Foundation and The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) are set to activate the new Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP) program on the first day of the SPI 2018 event.

The goal of this initiative is to reduce financial stagnation and processing difficulties with regards to permitting and inspections for both solar production and energy storage. It will include a new certification process for installers and for key components which is intended to make the process more fluid for homeowners.

“The solar permitting process could greatly benefit with attention to what is causing delays and difficulty during the solar panel installation process. By reforming this process, solar will become more convenient and affordable, especially for...