From medical centers and warehouses, to school campuses and resorts, installing for the commercial and industrial (C&I) solar segment is a world unto its self — starting from the equipment up.

And whether you’re a seasoned C&I contractor or just getting started in these projects, staying ahead of new product trends can help you plan out the year.

To help with this, BayWa r.e. Solar Systems hosted a helpful webinar on February 4, led by Guillaume Casanova, our own Director of Commercial Solutions. Representatives from several of our trusted manufacturing partners — Unirac, SolarEdge Technologies, and JA Solar — spent an hour sharing their product development news and answering audience questions live on the air.

So be sure to watch our recording below or skim our webinar highlights! And for more information on starting a C&I procurement relationship with BayWa r.e. Solar Systems, get in touch with Guillaume Casanova directly at Guillaume.Casanova@baywa-re.com today.

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Additional Resources from the Show

WEBINAR HIGHLIGHTS

‘Think Gig’ with SolarEdge Inverters (02:33)

Our hour kicked off with Ben Frank, Director of National Sales with SolarEdge Technologies, and a past Solar Town Hall guest speaker. Residential solar contractors may be familiar with home-scale solutions like the SolarEdge Energy Hub, but the company also is a major player in the commercial solar segment. SolarEdge’s commercial inverters accommodate larger string lengths and multiple azimuths and tilt on the same strings. They also allow for redesigns on the fly and module-level performance monitoring.

Watch Ben Frank discuss SolarEdge’s AdvantEdge Program, which protects system owners against power production losses caused by power optimizer downtime — covering enrolled sites for a 2-year period, including truckroll and compensation for tracked lost production. Learn more about SolarEdge’s new three-phase commercial inverters (17.3kW @208V; 40kW @480V) and three-phase inverters with Synergy Technology (50kW @208V; 80kW, 120 kW @480V). Browse their commercial solar projects case studies for PDF briefings on how SolarEdge products solved a design challenge. Discover how SolarEdge’s “Best of Both Worlds” architecture ensures maximum energy yield at a lower O&M cost.

Unirac — Founded by Installers, For Installers (19:44)

Representing Unirac on the webinar were Ted Bleecker, Commercial Business Development Director, and Jonah Coles, Product Solutions Manager. Unirac expanded their product offerings in 2020 with the acquisition of Equilibrium Solar (in fact both Ted and Jonah hail from the newly added team). Among the exciting offerings from Unirac is their GridFlex™ system. GridFlex is a ballasted mounting system for low-slope and flat roofs, offering 3-point clamping and a grid structure for load sharing and fewer parts and less work than other grid/rail-based systems — with 10° tilt option coming to market in early 2021 Q3.

Watch and learn why Unirac is a solutions company for commercial projects contractors and designers. Look for Ted and Jonah’s slides of their commercial project case studies — including a Mandalay Bay Convention Center installation (6.4MW) in Las Vegas. And look for Unirac’s informative product webinars — there’s one on February 24 — divulging the wind tunnel testing secrets behind the GridFlex system. REGISTER NOW »

Harvest the Sunshine with JA Solar (32:20)

Finally, bringing in the PV module perspective was Thomas Nielsen, Director of Sales with JA Solar. With nearly 10% of the global market share, JA Solar began as a solar cell producer — and, in fact, continues to produce cells and wafers for other brands downstream. For the U.S. market, JA Solar ships p-type mono PERC products — which it promises increases towards 24.00% efficiency by 2022H2.

As heavily discussed around the industry (including our own Solar Tech Talk), larger PV modules are the near and immediate future. JA Solar itself anticipates half-cell bifacial modules becoming the dominant product and 182mm wafer as the dominant technology — and is shifting its production from 158 to 182 in 2021. Watch and learn about JA Solar’s product development roadmap from its 158 Deep Blue 1.0 Series to the 166 Deep Blue 2.0 Series to its 182 Deep Blue 3.0 Series; the nuances of MBB and circular ribbon design; and JA Solar’s special assurances for products shipped through BayWa r.e. Solar Systems.

There’s even more to geek out on in the closing Q&A, from global supply chain angles to weight limit solutions to racking accommodations for larger modules. Queue this webinar to your podcast playlist and share it with your team. Here’s to a year of new opportunities and savvy foresight for your commercial solar ventures — and be sure to stay in close touch with Guillaume and our BayWa r.e. Solar Systems team for all your questions and C&I equipment needs.

Guillaume Casanova is Director of Commercial Solutions at BayWa r.e. Solar Systems (USA). He brings more than 12 years of experience in wealth management, market analysis, and renewables industry partnerships to our team. Contact Guillaume at guillaume.casanova@baywa-re.com.

BayWa r.e. Solar Systems LLC supplies residential and commercial solar installers in the United States with quality solar + storage components, forecasting, business planning advice, and a community of experts. Visit www.solar-distribution.com to read our industry insights articles and stream our Solar Tech Talk and Solar Town Hall podcasts on YouTube and Spotify. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to stay connected. Ask us about our Split Pay financing program and use our industry-leading Webstore to save time, get gear shipped, and get jobs done! Part of the BayWa r.e. Global family of renewable energy companies.