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Solar 101 for Non-Engineers

July 29 - 30, 2025 Online :: Central Time

This course is designed to familiarize non-technical attendees with:

  • How solar technology works
  • Site selection considerations that make prospective sites more or less suitable for development
  • Understanding the solar development value chain — i.e., who makes money and how do they make it
  • Solar use cases and the markets
  • Operations and maintenance (O&M) elements
  • Importance of pairing storage with solar
  • Supply chain, tariffs and other “externalities” that complicate the solar development landscape

Learning Outcomes

This course will: 

  • Discuss the fundamentals of solar technology 
  • Review the electrical systems and related components that support the conversion of solar energy to power
  • Assess how solar-generated power is sited and delivered
  • Inform on the various metrics of the solar development value chain
  • Examine the various solar use cases
  • Evaluate how electricity markets value power
  • Describe the elements of solar operations and maintenance (O&M)
  • Discuss how externalities such as tariffs and supply chain snags can impact the economics and timing of solar project development

Register

Please Note: This event is being conducted entirely online. All attendees will connect and attend from their computer, one connection per purchase. For details please see our FAQ

If you are unable to attend at the scheduled date and time, we make recordings available to all attendees for 7 days after the event

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS EVENT:

This event has passed and cannot be registered for. If you would like to see if this event will be offered again please reach out to [email protected]

Your registration may be transferred to a member of your organization up to 24 hours in advance of the event. Cancellations must be received on or before June 27, 2025 in order to be refunded and will be subject to a US $195.00 processing fee per registrant. No refunds will be made after this date. Cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event. This credit will be good for six months from the cancellation date. In the event of non-attendance, all registration fees will be forfeited. In case of conference cancellation, EUCIs liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies, such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at 303-770-8800

Day one

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Day two

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Agenda

Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Central Time

Online

Log In & Welcome

8:45 AM

Lunch Break

12:30 - 1:15 PM

Adjourn for the day

4:30 PM

8:45 AM - 9:00 AM

Log In & Welcome

9:00 - 10:45 AM

Solar Building Blocks

  • History of solar
  • Technologies and industry overview
  • Photovoltaic solar modules
  • Electrical systems
    • DC elements
    • AC collection and system protection
  • Inverter types and design considerations
  • Transformers
  • Power plant control (SCADA) and monitoring
  • Other BOS components
10:45 - 11:00 AM

Morning Break

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Siting & Delivering the Power

  • Optimum physical attributes of development parcel(s)
  • Permitting
  • Community “fit”
  • Interconnection
  • Ratios and metrics
12:30 - 1:15 PM

Lunch Break

1:15 - 2:45 PM

The Solar Development Value Chain

  • Influence of the tax system
  • Venture capital
  • Sponsor
  • Project developer
    • stages
  • Lender
  • Asset owner
  • Asset operator
  • Asset (energy) off-taker
  • EPCs
  • Transactional life cycle
2:45 - 3:00 PM

Afternoon Break

3:00 - 4:30 PM

Solar Use Cases & The Markets

  • Self-generation
  • Merchant generation
  • Contract paths
    • PPAs
    • vPPAs
  • The “duck curve”
  • Solar + Storage
  • Renewable energy credits (RECs)
  • When more is worth less
    • Curtailment
    • Congestion and basis risk
4:30 PM

Course Adjourns for the Day

Agenda

Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Central Time

Online

Log In

8:45 AM

Adjourn for the day

12:30 PM

8:45 AM - 9:00 AM

Log In

9:00 - 10:45 AM

Operations & Maintenance

  • Components and issues
  • Performance, measurement and analytics
  • Contract parties
  • Roles
  • Warranties
10:45 - 11:00 AM

Morning Break

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Externalities

  • Supply chain
  • Tariffs and customs
  • Policy changes
  • Load growth patterns
  • Geopolitics
  • Interest rates
12:30 PM

Course Adjourns

Instructor

Torrey Graf

Vice President & Chief Engineer

FastGrid LLC

Torrey Graf is Vice President & Chief Engineer at FastGrid LLC, which he joined in 2022.  He has more than a dozen years of electrical engineering experience across both traditional power and utility scale solar generation, as well as deep experience in large scale energy storage. In addition to building and leading multidisciplinary teams at Burns & McDonnell, Mr. Graf has served as engineering and project manager on more than 4GW of solar and 2GW of energy storage projects across the United States. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Arizona State University.

Continuing Education Credits

IACET

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EUCI is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.

EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 1.0 CEUs for this event

Verify our IACET accreditation

 

Who recognizes IACET Credits?

 

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must log in each day and be in attendance for the entirety of the event to be eligible for continuing education credit.

 

Instructional Methods

This program will use PowerPoint Presentations and group discussions. 

CPE

Upon successful completion of this event, program participants interested in receiving CPE credits will receive a certificate of completion.

Course CPE Credits: 11.0
There is no prerequisite for this Course.
Program field of study: Specialized Knowledge
Program Level: Basic
Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
Advanced Preparation: None

CpeEUCI is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org

CLE

Only registered attendees can request CLE credits for an EUCI course/event.  Please email [email protected] prior to the course start date and list the state where you are licensed and your bar# as well as the name and date of your course/event in your request, and someone will be in contact.

Who Should Attend

  • Solar asset owners, utilities, developers, IPPs, EPCs and financial parties
  • Solar development and renewal energy project managers, estimators, and contract managers 
  • Supply chain and cost accounting professionals for utilities, corporate off-takers and other energy contracting organizations
  • Generation project developers and engineers who need an understanding of solar plant maintenance, costs and asset management
  • Investors and financial advisors
  • Regulatory agency staff 
  • Consultants and engineering firms that work within the solar development sector