News

The ImagineSolar Power Package:

Onsite + Online + Online LIVE
$50 Early Bird Rebate Ends May 25th for June Workshops

Our foundation workshop, PV201, includes classroom instruction, training in our solar field lab, and 60-day access to our online 201e course including Online LIVE sessions.
PV201: Solar PV System Design and Installation Workshop, $995 June 15th-June 19th
PV321: Advanced PV System Technologies Workshop, $895 June 20th-June 22nd

PV201: 5-Days

Spend five days with our instructors at our regional solar training facility in Austin and then continue with access to our online course and participate in our Monday night online LIVE sessions.

Review material and take our quizzes (more than 150 questions) and exam problem sets (more than 140 exam problems) with immediate feedback and grading;

The exam problem sets are similar to what you can expect on solar certification exams;

It is the complete package – the ImagineSolar Power Package.

PV201 + PV321: 8-Days

Want to spend a full week in beautiful Austin, TX and accelerate your career in solar power? You can now take our foundation PV201 workshop and advanced PV321 workshop back-to-back over an eight day period.
WHEN: Begins Saturday, June 15, 2013
WHERE: ImagineSolar, 4000 Caven Road, Austin, TX 78744
REGISTER TODAY: PV201 and/or PV321

PV321 Graduates! May 5th, 2013

ImagineSolar is again host this year for Schletter’s Solar Roadshow. Come by on Friday May 3rd for the Roadshow, we will conduct drawings for $100 discounts on ImagineSolar courses. Along with food and giveaways, Schletter will be showcasing their mounting systems, including the new Fix-EZ for flat roofs. Take a tour of our training facility and plan to stay in Austin May 4th and 5th for our workshop PV321: Advanced PV System Technologies which features Schletter technology.

PV321: Advanced PV System Technologies
Schletter Solar Roadshow: May 3rd

Roger Duncan has been a long-time friend and colleague. We worked together to start the first solar PV incentive program in Texas. The City of Austin (Austin Energy) solar incentive program for photovoltaic systems was launched in 2004. Roger worked at Austin Energy at the time (VP, Distributed Energy Systems) and I served as a member of the Resource Management Commission for the City of Austin.

I want to share Roger’s latest presentation with you. He was a keynote speaker at the last TREIA Conference. He spoke about the future of solar power and introduced the concept of the “unified energy system.”

“But the way we use energy, the way we manipulate energy, the way we monitor and move and store energy is changing and it is changing very fast.”

Roger explains that the conventional energy system of the past is one where large centralized fossil-fueled power plants generate electricity and move it in one direction to buildings. Also, where our transportation sector runs entirely off petroleum and is completely disconnected from the rest of the system.

As we transform to a unified energy system, we produce power from renewable energy sources as well as fossil fuel. Buildings not only are more efficient but they are starting to generate their own energy onsite. The transportation system is moving away from just gasoline to a whole diversity of fuels and electric power. This system is interconnected with a smart grid, a bi-directional smart grid that is not only moving information but is moving power back and forth between the points in this system.

The parts of this system are becoming more and more integrated. The volume and speed of power and information moving between the points of this system is exponentially increasing. And in order to handle this, we are also exponentially increasing the level of intelligence embedded in the system.

ImagineSolar has expanded its courses to include smart grid topics as well as solar due to this major transformation of the energy industry.

I encourage you to take the time to view Roger’s presentation. There is a surprise ending that I will not give away here.

Enjoy Roger’s video in the embedded YouTube video below or at this link: Roger Duncan on The Future of Energy, TREIA Conference 2012.

Onward,

Michael Kuhn
President & CEO, ImagineSolar

On Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 (8 AM – 5 PM), Texas-based solar educator ImagineSolar is hosting their popular 1-day solar lab at their Austin solar training facility.

Participants of PV201eLAB: Solar PV Design & Installation Lab will learn how to build a complete grid-tied solar PV system and make it go “live”. This lab allows individuals to get a fast-start understanding of the tools and technologies driving the growth of the solar industry.

Lab participants will gain experience by:

ImagineSolar Participants Train for NABCEP Entry-Level Exam

Texas-based educator ImagineSolar will be offering a 6-day “Foundation Training” workshop in Solar Photovoltaic System Design & Installation in early February at their Austin, Texas, training center.

This intensive 6-day PV201 workshop prepares participants just in time for the NABCEP Entry-Level Exam at ImagineSolar on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013.  Successfully passing this exam is a great first step on the pathway to becoming a solar PV installer or gaining a working knowledge of PV systems to incorporate in the renewable energy business world.

From Saturday-Thursday, Feb. 2-7, 2013, ImagineSolar is hosting their week-long PV201: Solar PV System Design & Installation workshop (48 contact hours, $995).  Full-day classes & labs will be held from 8 AM – 5 PM every day at their fully-equipped solar field lab.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

1. Inverters: Types & specifications
2. System sizing, design, components & configurations
3. Cells, modules, and arrays
4. Batteries and charge controllers
5. Site assessments
6. Mechanical & electrical integration
7. Installation & commissioning

Solar Training for Texans

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ImagineSolar will host a free solar training opportunity for Central Texans who want to add four NABCEP Continuing Education credit hours to their career. The course features SolarEdge portfolio of products for optimizing the performance of solar electric systems. The SolarEdge Free 4-Hour Solar Training Event takes place Wednesday, Jan 16th (9am–1pm) and includes lunch.

“Hosting SolarEdge offers us the opportunity to bring real value to the Central Texas solar community and helps maintain career advancement,” said Michael Kuhn, CEO, ImagineSolar. For people interested in continuing to advance their career, new levels of solar training are planned for 2013.

For those located outside of Central Texas, ImagineSolar offers online solar training courses that have instructors available to answer questions, quizzes and problem sets with immediate grading, and downloadable course materials for offline study. Online LIVE courses include all this plus streaming video of instructors while they present courses.

ImagineSolar Upcoming Online & Online LIVE Courses include:

•  PV201e: “Online PV System Design & Installation”, Available Anytime – $695 (48 credit hours); add the PV201eLAB for the hands-on training

•  PV320e LIVE: “Advanced PV System Design & NABCEP Exam Prep”, LIVE sessions start Jan 21 (begin online exercises now) $595 (20 credit hours)

ImagineSolar’s Upcoming Live Courses in their State-of-the-Art Solar Training Field Lab (Austin, TX):

•  PV320e LIVE: “Advanced PV System Design & NABCEP Exam Prep”, LIVE sessions start Jan 21 (begin online exercises now) $595 (20 credit hours)

•  PV201eLAB: “Solar PV System Design & Installation Lab”, Saturday, Feb 2nd – $195 (8 credit hours)

•  PV201 6-Day Workshop: “Solar PV System Design & Installation”, Feb 2–Feb 7 – $995 (48 credit hours)

About ImagineSolar

Founded in 2002, ImagineSolar is Texas’ first licensed solar & smart grid school. As an ISPQ accredited Continuing Education provider and fully-licensed TWC school, we train clients nationwide for clean energy careers and NABCEP and UL certifications through live & online courses, hands-on labs, and employee training programs. We also provide advisory services for the solar and smart grid industries. Visit imaginesolar.com for the 2013 Calendar and free career eBooks.

Strengthens Solar Workforce Development

Austin, TX – ImagineSolar will feature Ideal Power Converters’ (IPC) innovative inverter technology in their next Advanced Photovoltaic (PV) System Technologies course scheduled as a weekend workshop December 15th and 16th in Austin, Texas.

ImagineSolar, Texas’ first licensed solar and smart grid education and advisory services company, is pleased to announce a training partnership with Ideal Power Converters (IPC), a developer of disruptive power converter solutions.

IPC has patented a new breakthrough power converter technology that will improve both energy and cost efficiency for solar inverters, grid storage, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. IPC’s initial product, a 94lb 30kW 480VAC PV inverter, is one of the most efficient PV inverters with 96.5% CEC-weighted efficiency. It can lower inverter shipping and installation costs by 90% compared to conventional transformer based inverters.

“We are excited to work with the outstanding team at ImagineSolar,” said Paul Bundschuh, CEO for IPC. “ImagineSolar will conduct a lab using our inverter technology and will provide insight into the advantages of bi-polar system design.”

ImagineSolar establishes training partnerships with leading manufacturers, distributors, installation companies, training, and accreditation organizations to ensure that their courses use the most current technologies and best practices for the solar and smart grid industries.

“IPC is transforming the PV, grid-storage, and electric vehicle fast charging markets with their game-changing Universal Power Converter Platform™,” said Michael Kuhn, ImagineSolar Founder and CEO. “This is a great match with our focus on system solutions for the solar and smart grid industries.”

About Ideal Power Converters

Ideal Power Converters has patented and is further developing a revolutionary new power converter technology that significantly improves weight, size, cost, efficiency and reliability. IPC products will include solar inverters, wind converters, bidirectional battery and electric vehicle chargers based on its Universal Power Converter Platform™. IPC has received funding from the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund, and has been awarded $2.5M from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). IPC was also included in the “Cool Vendors in Solar Energy, 2012” report published by Gartner Inc. For more information, visit: IdealPowerConverters.com.

Contact Information

Public Relations:
Wendy Prabhu, Mercom Capital Group
1-512-327-2800
Mercom@idealpowerconverters.com

About ImagineSolar

ImagineSolar is dedicated to accelerating the transformation of the energy industry through solar and smart grid education and advisory services. They prepare their customers for clean energy careers and industry certifications (NABCEP). ImagineSolar is a fully-licensed Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) school and is ISPQ accredited for Continuing Education by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. Also, they are approved by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) as a Continuing Education Provider. They work nationwide with live and online lectures, hands-on labs, online courses, employee training programs, and industry advisory services. For their course schedule and list of advisory services, visit ImagineSolar.com or call (888) 514-1972.

Contact Information

Public Relations:
Debrah Dubay, Dubay Communications
1-512-627-3782
Debrah@Dubayco.com

Austin’s Local Solar Advisory Committee Approves Major Goal Increase
A Message from Michael Kuhn, ImagineSolar Founder & CEO

Great news!

We approved the strategic plan for Austin’s solar industry development last week (November 1, 2012) and it was a unanimous vote of the members of the Austin Local Solar Advisory Committee (LSAC).

The plan will become a public document in the near future. In the meantime here are key points from the plan:

The City of Austin has less than 40MW of local solar PV since we began the solar program in 2004. The LSAC has approved a plan to increase this amount to the range of 200-300MW of local solar projects by 2020.

On average this would be 20 to 32 MW of new solar PV projects per year for the next 8 years compared to an average of 5 MW per year of local solar PV projects to date.

In addition to local solar, the LSAC plan calls for an additional 200-300 MW of other utility-scale solar. So the total plan amount ranges from 400 MW to 600 MW of solar PV projects. This represents approximately 5 to 9% of Austin’s projected annual energy requirement.

With this plan, the City of Austin can retain its leadership position in solar and further create a sustainable community of jobs and solar energy.

Onward,

Michael Kuhn
Founder and CEO, ImagineSolar
Austin Local Solar Advisory Committee

In our October/November newsletter, we asked the following question:

Q:  In one and two-family dwellings, photovoltaic (PV) source circuits and output circuits are permitted to have a maximum PV system voltage of 600 Volts DC (VDC).  In order to keep the system voltage below 600 VDC, which two variables should you be most concerned about?

A)     Max power voltage (Vmp) and the lowest expected ambient temperature for your location

B)      Open circuit voltage (Voc) and the highest expected ambient temperature for your location

C)      Max power voltage (Vmp) and the highest expected ambient temperature for your location

D)     Open circuit voltage (Voc) and the lowest expected ambient temperature for your location

Answer:  D)   Open circuit voltage (Voc) and the lowest expected ambient temperature for your location

The open circuit voltage (Voc) equates to the highest voltage amount possible, while the max power voltage (Vmp) is the voltage rating when your power output is the highest.  So the Voc is always higher than the Vmp.  Also, as temperature increases, voltage decreases, and as temperature decreases, voltage increases.  In this question you’re concerned about never letting the total voltage go higher than 600 volts, so you’re going to size the system for the situation that could potentially cause the highest voltage, using your Voc and lowest expected ambient temperature.  The NEC confirms this in their requirements.

Austin, TX – ImagineSolar announces a new training partnership with Ideal Power Converters, whose award winning technology will be incorporated into ImagineSolar’s Advanced Training courses.

PV320: Advanced PV Design & NABCEP Exam Prep
Austin, TX | Tuesdays, Oct. 23 – Dec. 11 (6-9pm)

ImagineSolar establishes partnerships with leading manufacturers, distributors, installation companies, training & accreditation organizations to ensure that their courses are teaching best practices using the most current technologies & methods for the solar & smart grid industries.

ImagineSolar is pleased to announce that Ideal Power Converters has donated their photovoltaic inverter technology to the ImagineSolar advanced training program.  ImagineSolar will feature IPC’s innovative inverter technology in both their PV320 and PV321 courses.

“Ideal Power Converters is transforming the PV, grid-storage, and electric vehicle fast charging markets with their game-changing Universal Power Converter Platform™,” stated Michael Kuhn, ImagineSolar Founder and CEO.  “This is a great match with our focus on system solutions for the solar and smart grid industries.”

Who Should Take These Advanced Courses?

• Solar Project Developers
• Entrepreneurs
• Electricians
• Engineers and Designers
• Architects, Builders and Remodelers
• Contractors and Installers
• All others who want to become solar industry professionals

PV320: Advanced PV Design & NABCEP Exam Prep

20-hour course going deep into PV system design and problem-solving expertise needed to pass the professional level NABCEP Certified Solar PV Exam.  Topics include:

• NABCEP PV Job Task Analysis (NABCEP Study Guide)
• PV Array Temperature Impact Calculation Exercises
• Expedited Permit Process for PV Systems
• Working Safely with PV Systems
• Conducting a Site Assessment
• Selecting a System Design
• Adapting the Mechanical Design
• Adapting the Electrical Design
• Installing Sub-systems & Components at the Site
• Performing a System Checkout & Inspection
• Maintaining & Troubleshooting a System

PV321: Advanced PV System Technologies

PV321 is designed for those who want a professional understanding of leading-edge solar industry technologies and the integration of those technologies into system solutions for commercial, residential, and utility-scale projects.

This 20-hour course includes design concepts, system analysis & labs essential for PV system developers, entrepreneurs, designers, installers & those seeking careers in the solar industry.

The weekend course (Dec. 15th & 16th) takes place in ImagineSolar’s state-of-the-art solar field lab & training center in Austin, Texas, and is designed for out-of-towners as well as those in the Austin area.  Follow this link to get Special Hotel Rates near the Austin airport.

Topics and Labs

• Ideal Power Converters Universal Power Converter Platform™
• Enphase Microinverter Technology & Applications
• Fixed versus Tracking Systems Technology, Applications & Financial Justification
• SMA Sunny Island Bimodal Hybrid System Technology & Applications
• Battery banks & Generators
• Ballasted mounting systems for commercial buildings

Combine PV321 training with a visit to Austin – the “Live Music Capital of the World.“

Both courses provide advanced training credit for the NABCEP Certification Exam as well as NABCEP continuing education credit for those already certified.