Solar Power World

We speak with Jan Middleton of ILSCO, a privately-held, American owned manufacturer of electrical connectors that has become an industry leader as a source of components for grounding, bonding and connectivity solutions to the solar industry.

Solar Power World spoke with Maxine Ghavi, head of ABB’s Solar Initiative. ABB made news when it purchased inverter powerhouse Power-One, marking a new chapter in its commitment to the solar industry — so we decided to find out why.

We speak with Tucker Ruberti, director of strategic marketing for Advanced Energy, to get his perspective on where the inverter currently is — and where it is going in the future.

We spoke with Craig Lawrence, VP of Marketing at SolarBridge Technologies. Craig discussed what the solar leasing industry has to gain from ACPV.

In this episode, we are talking to John Morrison, COO of Strata Solar in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a member of Solar Power World’s Top 100 Solar Contractors list.

In this episode, we are talking to Dan Weinman, president of PPC Solar in Taos, N.M., and a member of Solar Power World’s Top 100 Solar Contractors list.

We spoke to Peter Lynch, an advisor to Principal Solar Institute, investment banker and expert in renewable energy.

In this episode, we are talking with Blake Jones, co-founder/president of Boulder, Colo.-based Namaste Solar.

We talked to Rob Threlkeld, renewable energy manager for General Motors. GM announced in February 2013 that they were going to be joining SEIA.

Today we’re speaking with Damon Turley, Solar Business Development Manager, at Festo Corp. He has some interesting ideas on how to bring down the production costs of solar equipment.

We spoke with Rick Gilbert, vice president of Solar Source (which is one of Solar Power World’s Top 100 Solar Contractors). As a Florida-based solar installer, Rick tells us why, at this moment, the “Sunshine State” is actually one of the least solar friendly. Florida actually lags behind many others on total installed capacity. In fact, Rick says the state actually has policies that block solar development on any kind of medium to large scale.

As solar panel prices “dropped like a rock,” AllEarth Renewables CEO David Blittersdorf shifted his company’s focus from home wind turbines to the AllSun Tracker, a dual-axis solar tracker. “You need to be flexible and operate with speed,” the 30-year veteran of renewable energy says in this Solar Speaks podcast.

In this podcast, Richard Grant, principal at Russell Corrosion Consultants, discusses the role coatings play in protecting solar farms from corrosion and how the industry uses the company’s services.

We spoke with George Caraghiaur, Simon Property Group’s senior vice president of sustainability. Your average shopping mall has food and clothing but George tells why Clay Terrace Mall in Indiana has something more. He describes the mall’s recent electric vehicle charging installation, which combines solar power and battery storage technology to create a plug-in ecosystem.

SPW sat down with SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch and SEPA President and CEO Julia Hamm at the PV America event in Philadelphia in 2013.

SPW sat down with SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch and SEPA President and CEO Julia Hamm at the PV America event in Philadelphia in 2013.

Matt Denninger, senior marketing manager of Advanced Energy Solar Energy, presented a paper at a conference this year where he talked about his list of eight ways to lower PV costs, and he joined us to discuss it.

We spoke with Robert Forster, Vice President of Strategic Planning at Solarrus Corporation, and Jeanne Schwartz, Vice President of New Venture Commercialization at Assurant. The two discussed how their companies are working together to reduce project risk and improve the long-term financial viability of commercial solar installations.

We spoke with Paul Wise, COO at Colored Solar. Paul discusses how Colored Solar manufactures colored solar panels to blend in with surrounding architecture and landscape.

Allen Breeze, SVP of Schneider’s U.S. Power Business, has some interesting comments on the future of homes as energy control centers. And Jeffrey Drees, President of Schneider Electric U.S., answers some questions on Schneider’s solar business and shale gas as a threat to renewables.