Thoughts on Solar

As has been the practice for the past several years at Solar Power International, the “solar tribe” got together for a “tweet-up” - a social gathering of folks who tweet about solar power issues.  Organized this year by @SolarFred (Tor Valenza), @PVAddict (Heather Andrews) and @GoGreenSolar (Deep Patel), the event was held at a nearby bar on Wednesday night.

Always a great opportunity to meet people in the flesh whom you’ve only known previously 140 characters at a time, this year the folks at Renewable Energy World came by to interview some of the participants about the influence of social media on their businesses.  We took the opportunity to plug this blog - and to renew our perpetual plea for more comments!

Here’s the video for your amusement, I come on about halfway through (and without much voice in a very loud room!)

Adam Rossi (left) prepares to compete with Dusty Psaila

UPDATE: The Great Enphase Install-O-Rama wrapped up on Thursday in fine fashion - ultimately showcasing two  installer Top Guns who prove that the future of our industry is on a sound footing.

Overall winner Adam Rossi - a/k/a “The Solar Ninja” - was one of the six installers invited to SPI by the folks at Enphase.  Adam, who runs Adam Solar Resources in Bridgeville, PA, is everything you might want in a solar installer - he’s smart, he’s devoted to the industry, and he has more than a bit of that competitive spirit that can help you push through tough times.  He was also blindingly fast, turning in a crazy quick time of just 1:34!

But scarcely to be outdone was Adam’s chief rival, sixteen-year-old Dusty Psaila from Hawaii.  Dusty stepped out of the audience to compete and he has been installing solar with his dad for two years.  Judging by his enthusiasm for the competition and for the solar exhibit overall, he will undoubtedly be a major force in the Hawaiian solar industry in the years to come.

It was a real pleasure to spend some time with these great young people and we wish them the best of success in their future careers. 
Go get ‘em, guys!

Today was the first day of the Solar Power International Exhibits here in Dallas and that could only mean one thing – it was time for the great Enphase Install-O-Rama!  Featuring your humble reporter going head-to-head with the toughest competition SPI could provide.  For this first go, that was none other than Mark Santos, Director of Business Development at Premier Power out of El Dorado Hills in NoCal.

Suffice it to say that Mark is a very fast study.  Some might even say too fast, but we won’t quibble about such things.  However, wisdom and experience defeats youth and treachery – at least for awhile and I’ve got the proof, check this out:

To be fair - eventually, after repeatedly going to school on (and being schooled by) me, Mark broke through on the last match-up to take the overall morning lead - and he did it in fine fashion, beating my previous best by more than 10 seconds.

Ah, but the competition is just beginning and there are more match-ups to come (including with some very - shall we say, self-confident? competitors).  So we shall see how this all turns out!

I can say, that for never having touched an M215 until yesterday, the system really is quite easy to use.  Nice job, Enphase!  Now on to Gilly’s!!!

Solar Power International 2011 starts next week in Dallas and we will be there, thanks to our friends at Enphase Energy. If you are going to be there as well, we hope you will stop by the Enphase booth and say hi!

Here’s how this came about - as readers of this blog probably know, we have attended the Solar Power conference every year since entering the business back in 2006.  However, this year the show has moved out of California - a certainly reasonable decision given the size of solar markets in other states - but given the added expense, we were sadly resigned to giving it a pass.  Then, out of the blue, we were contacted by the folks at Enphase who invited us to participate with them in demonstrating how quick and easy their new M215 line is to install.  So, along with five other installers from around the country, we will be spending time at the Enphase booth - #1331 - on Tuesday and Thursday morning helping to spread the word about the value of Enphase micro-inverters.

(Full disclosure: this is the first time that Run on Sun has received any stipend or other consideration from Enphase and everything we have ever written about them and their products was done without any inducement of any kind.  The stipend in this case is to merely cover our expenses in attending the conference.)

As always, we are really looking forward to attending the show as it is a great way for us to see what innovative products are coming (it was the 2008 show that introduced us to Enphase), touch base with all of our suppliers (who will all be there) and generally get recharged from the collective energy exuded by thousands of other believers in the value of renewable energy in general and solar power in particular.  It should be a wonderful show - and will hopefully help to generate some positive press about the solar industry at a time when it desperately needs it.

So if you are attending the show, feel free to reach out via the SPI online social app or just come by the Enphase booth - #1331 on the main floor - on Tuesday or Thursday morning.  I’ll be the good-looking guy with the beard, sporting Run on Sun livery!  Hope to see you in Dallas!