This year’s Intersolar North America Conference 2016 drew a record crowd with over 18,000 in attendance. Intersolar was full of life, new products, and plenty of seminars. Intersolar is a conference where anyone who is in the solar or renewable energy industry can get up to date on what is happening in the solar market. Home Energy Systems’ (H.E.S.) Vice President, Ross Williams, and Head of Product Development, Tyler Miller were invited to attend this year’s Intersolar to scope out what is up and coming and stay up to date with the best products. In addition, Ross Williams gave a talk on Virtual Net Energy Metering. With hundreds of vendors, keynote speakers, and innovative products, we have rounded up our favorite topics from Intersolar 2016.
VIRTUAL NET METERING SYSTEMS SEMINAR –
ROSS WILLIAMS, VNEM EXPERT & VP OF HOME ENERGY SYSTEMS
Ross Williams spoke about Virtual Net Energy Metering (VNEM) on Tuesday, July 12th. Ross Williams spoke alongside Erica McConnel, IREC and Ben Airth, Center for Sustainable Energy.
Virtual net metering can provide and excellent return on investment for apartment owners. Not too long ago if you wanted to install a solar system for an apartment complex you would need to split it into mini systems for each unit. Now with virtual net metering it is possible to have one large system, electronically divide up all the credits and remotely assign them to the tenants of the complex, saving a significant amount on installation and equipment.
“We have worked hard to become experts in this arena. I am excited to be part of the VNEM panel and to help educate business owners on the huge savings potential and environmental impact,” said Ross Williams.
Home Energy Systems was the first to install a net metered system and is a leading installer of virtually net metered systems. Ross Williams was able to speak on the advantages and hurdles currently facing the installation of virtual net metered systems. If you or anyone you know is interested in a Virtual net metering system for their business contact us and set up a free energy evaluation.
Download slides from the full Intersolar presentation here. Or take a look at Ross William’s full presentation below.
NEW AND IMPROVED BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEMS
The up and coming market in the solar industry is solar coupled battery storage, referred to as advanced energy storage. H.E.S. is currently undertaking the first stages of research and development of their own advanced energy storage system. Intersolar 2016 was the perfect place to gain a better understanding of the competition as well as find out who had the best systems for us to offer to our current customers.
The two systems Tyler Miller liked best were the Sonnen Batterie system also known as “sonnenBatterie eco” and the Concept-US system also know as “Powerstation247”.
The Sonnen Batterie system is sleek, intelligent, plug-in-play, scaleable,
and comes with a 10-year warranty. It was one of the few systems that
just looked awesome on the wall and comes with tons of really cool features.
It will not only allow you to save your excess solar power for night time
use but can help run your house if you were to loose power. It’s
intelligent Energy Management System learns how you use electricity and
is connected to the current weather data to manage your energy supply
for optimal performance.
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The
Concept-US system (Powerstation247) is also a complete all-in-one battery system that is
highly flexible for sizing perfectly to meet your needs. While only backed
by a five-year warranty, it appears that it may be changing to a ten-year
warranty in the near future.
Exciting news: H.E.S. will soon be authorized dealers and installers for both of these systems, along with many more! For more information contact us!
INNOVATIVE SOLAR TECHNOLOGY
PENETRATION-LESS INSTALLATION SYSTEMS FOR FLAT ROOFS
If you have a flat roof with a single-ply PVC or T membrane covering it
there is now a combined panel racking system that can be installed by
one to two people simply by pulling a stand down from under the panel
and then sticking it to the roof. Each new row of panels clips into the
previous row and sticks to the roof as well. This seems to give a very
quick and easy installation with no pene
trations in your roof and minimal weight that is typically seen on a ballasted system.
SOLAR STREET LIGHTS
One company at Intersolar 2016 created a stand alone solar streetlights that have solar cells on the sides of the light column and batteries inside. This makes it possible to install street lights in remote locations or existing locations that don’t have a power connection. They looked really cool!
SOLAR FLOWERS
If you have some land and want to create a solar flower field that powers
your home, these flowers are pretty cool. They wake up when the sun comes
up, open their solar petals, and follow the sun all day long. Their ability
to move and follow the throughout the day gives these solar panels super
good production. After the sun is down the flowers close up at night.
There is also room for an inverter and batteries in the base!
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SUMMERFEST CANDY BAR
The Intersolar Summerfest event was awesome! They had a candy bar better than any we have ever seen and a tater tot bar, which opened our vision on how to eat tater tots. Maybe not the most healthy, but pretty tasty!
All in all, Intersolar was a great, informative, and very beneficial event where we were able to see the innovations hitting the market. Seeing competitors’ products and learning about innovative technology that will enter the market soon helps H.E.S. stay on top of our game and be your premium solar and battery system installers.
If you, or anyone you know, is interested in solar energy or any of the products we talked about in this article contact us! You can also set up a FREE energy evaluation to understand just how much your home or business can save by installing solar!
